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50 free Ursa Major trivia questions with answers — science & nature quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Ursa Major is the third-largest constellation and home to the most recognisable star pattern in the northern sky, and this quiz covers all of it: the seven stars of the Big Dipper and their Arabic names, the pointers that lead to Polaris, the eyesight test of Mizar and Alcor, the galaxies M81, M82 and the Pinwheel, the Hubble Deep Field, and the bear myths told from ancient Greece to the Iroquois and Korea. Easy questions ask what the Dipper is called in Britain and which star is at the end of the handle; harder ones dig into the star that moves against the rest of the group, the six-star system hiding in the handle, the 13-year-old who put the constellation on Alaska's flag and the Finnish word that means a salmon weir. It suits stargazers, science teachers, mythology fans and pub quizzes that want an astronomy round anyone can picture. BrainPickle's constellations quiz covers the rest of the sky. Every answer has been checked against the Wikipedia articles on Ursa Major, its stars and deep-sky objects and the myths attached to it, and each question shows its source once you have answered.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What does the Latin name Ursa Major mean?
Greater Bear
It contrasts with nearby Ursa Minor, the lesser bear, home of the pole star.
Q 02How does Ursa Major rank in size among the 88 modern constellations?
Third largest
It covers 1,279.66 square degrees, or 3.10% of the whole sky.
Q 03What is the seven-star asterism of Ursa Major called in the United Kingdom?
The Plough
Americans call it the Big Dipper, and historically the British also called it Charles's Wain.
Q 04Which two Big Dipper stars are the "pointers" to Polaris?
Dubhe and Merak
Trace a line from Merak through Dubhe and continue five times that distance to reach the North Star.
Q 05Which star lies at the very end of the Big Dipper's handle?
Alkaid
The blue-white B-type star is also called Benetnasch; the Chinese knew it as the Star of Military Defeat.
Q 06Despite carrying the letter epsilon, which star is the brightest in Ursa Major?
Alioth
At magnitude 1.77 it is the 33rd-brightest star in the sky, and its spectrum is classed as peculiar.
Q 07From what Arabic word does the star name Dubhe derive?
Bear
The full phrase meant "the back of the Greater Bear"; Dubhe is a giant about 123 light-years away.
Q 08Which faint star beside Mizar in the Dipper's handle served as a traditional test of eyesight?
Alcor
The Arabs and Persians used the pair as a vision test; Alcor is about a light-year beyond Mizar.
Q 09How many stars make up the whole Mizar and Alcor system?
Six
Mizar is itself a quadruple and Alcor a binary, all gravitationally bound, the second-closest six-star system after Castor.
Q 10Mizar was the first system to be recognised as what, in 1650?
A binary star
The Italian astronomer Giovanni Battista Riccioli is credited with the discovery in 1650.
Q 11Which two Big Dipper stars do NOT share the common motion of the Ursa Major Moving Group?
Dubhe and Alkaid
The other five are drifting toward a common point in Sagittarius, so the Dipper's shape will slowly change.
Q 12What is the claim to fame of the stellar association that includes most Dipper stars, Collinder 285?
It is the closest such grouping to Earth
Also called Collinder 285, its core is roughly 80 light-years away inside the Local Bubble.
Q 13In Greek myth, which nymph did Zeus pursue, and Hera turn into a bear, before she became Ursa Major?
Callisto
Q 21How did the Iroquois interpret the handle stars of the Dipper?
Hunters pursuing the bear
The second hunter carries a cooking pot on his shoulder, the star Alcor.
Q 22What did Norse pagans call the Big Dipper?
Woden's wagon
Odin was known by kennings such as "guardian of the wagon".
Q 23What does the old Finnish name for the asterism, Otava, mean?
A salmon weir
Ancient Finns believed the bear was lowered to earth from Ursa Major in a golden basket.
In the Sámi sky, the Big Dipper minus its two pointer stars forms what?
Her son Arcas nearly speared her; Zeus whisked them both to the sky, Arcas becoming Boötes.
Q 14The bear-nymph's son Arcas was placed in the sky as which constellation?
Boötes
Ovid called Ursa Major the Parrhasian Bear after Callisto's Arcadian home.
Q 15According to some writers, what disguise did Zeus adopt to approach the nymph who became the Great Bear?
He took the form of Artemis
She was one of Artemis's followers and was expelled from the group when her pregnancy was discovered.
Q 16Which Greek poet called the constellation Helike, meaning "turning", because it circles the pole?
Aratus
The Odyssey notes it never sinks below the horizon, making it a reference point for navigation.
Q 17Which 2nd-century astronomer listed Ursa Major among his original 48 constellations?
Ptolemy
He called it Arktos Megale in the Almagest.
Q 18In Hindu tradition, the stars of the Dipper represent what?
The Saptarishi, or Seven Sages
The Rigveda holds the earliest recorded mention of the constellation.
Q 19What is the asterism called in China and Japan, Beidou and Hokuto?
The North Dipper
Beidou in Chinese and Hokuto in Japanese; each star had a name such as Pivot, Pearl and Balance.
Q 20In pre-Islamic Arab tradition, the Big Dipper was seen as what?
A funeral bier followed by mourners
The bowl was the bier and the handle the procession; the leaping gazelle is a separate asterism of three star pairs.
The bow of the hunter Fávdna
The Sámi anthem opens with the words "Far to the north, under the Bow".
Q 25In the Korean myth of the northern stars, who became the constellation?
Sons who laid stepping stones for their mother
The widow blessed the unknown helpers who let her cross the stream to her new love.
Q 26What is the Latin origin of the word "septentrional", meaning northern?
The "seven oxen" of the Dipper
Septem triones, seven plough oxen, was the Roman name for the seven stars.
Q 27The flag of which US state shows the Big Dipper and Polaris in gold on blue?
Alaska
The design was chosen from about 700 entries in a 1927 contest.
Q 28How old was Benny Benson when his design was chosen for the territorial flag with the Dipper in 1927?
Fourteen
Sources often call him an orphan, but his father was still alive when he drew it.
Q 29Which Irish labour flag, adopted by James Connolly's Citizen Army in 1916, shows the constellation?
The Starry Plough
The seven stars also appear on the flag of the Community of Madrid.
Q 30Which pair of galaxies above the bear's head, M81 and M82, are among the brightest in the sky?
Bode's Galaxy and the Cigar Galaxy
M82 is the brightest infrared galaxy in the sky, and a Type Ia supernova blazed in it in January 2014.