Myths and legends about the Big Dipper.

Seven brothers are robbers. They often wander in the forests in the north of the earth and rob for a living. One day, seven robbers heard that there were seven beautiful and charming girls living on the edge of the northern land, so the seven brothers decided to take Seven Sisters as their wife. They prepared seven good horses and rushed to the distant northern Xinjiang to rob relatives. When they reach the edge of the earth, they stop and hide, waiting for a chance to start.

It was a summer evening, and Seven Sisters came out for a walk after dinner. The robbers suddenly attacked Seven Sisters like seven fierce black hawks. Strangely, Seven Sisters seemed to be on guard, and they hurried home. Only the youngest sister escaped slowly because she was weak. A robber caught her, put her in the saddle and drove away. The next night, the robbers tried to rob their relatives again, but their plot failed.

Later, the gods severely punished the seven robbers and ordered them to stay in the sky forever, guarding a bright star-Polaris. The seven brothers who were punished were the Big Dipper, and from then on they circled around the North Star.

Young friends with good eyesight, when you look up at the Big Dipper on a clear night, you can see a faint little star on the second star of the Big Dipper bucket handle. According to legend, the youngest girl who was robbed by a robber is still on the robber's back.

In ancient Arab countries, when recruiting new soldiers, the applicants were often shown little stars. If he can see, it means that he has good eyesight and can join the army. When autumn comes, six Seven Sisters-six little stars-rise together from the north and look at their little sisters.

This little star is the famous Pleiades cluster. In fact, there are more than 200 stars in the Pleiades cluster (observed with an astronomical telescope), but we can only see six or seven with the naked eye.

Extended data

The Big Dipper, also known as the Big Dipper, belongs to Ursa major. Graphically, the Big Dipper is located at the back and tail of Ursa Major. Of these seven stars, six are secondary stars and one is tertiary. Their names are: Shu Tian, Tian Xuan, Tianji, Tian Quan, Yuheng, Kaiyang and Yaoguang. The first four stars are called "Dou Kui" or "Xuan Ji"; The last three stars are called "bucket" and "bucket handle".

Graphically, the Big Dipper is located on the back and tail of the big bear. Through the connection of the two stars in the mouth of the bucket, it extends about 5 times in the direction of the mouth of the bucket and finds the Polaris. "Star Recognition Song" has: "Star recognition begins with Beidou, and then begins from north to west." Beginners can look for other constellations in turn from the Big Dipper.

Taoism calls the Big Dipper the Seven-Yuan Xie Hexing King, who lives in the Seven Palaces of the Big Dipper, namely, the Wolf-greedy King in Shutian Palace, the superstar king in Tian Xuan Palace, the Lucun Star King in Tianji Palace, the Wenqu Star King in Tianquan Palace, the Lian Zhen Star King in Yuheng Palace, the Wuqu Star King in Kaiyang Palace and the Broken Star King in Yaoguang Palace. The position of the Big Dipper in the sky is different in different seasons.

Therefore, the ancients in China determined the seasons according to their position changes: "bucket handle refers to the east, and the world is spring; Bucket handle guide, the world is summer; Bucket handle refers to the west, and the world is autumn; Bucket handle refers to the north, and it is winter all over the world. "Among the Big Dipper,' Yuheng' is the brightest, and its brightness is almost close to the first-class star." Tianquan is the darkest and a third-rate star.

The other five are all second-class stars. There is a small companion star named Fu near Kaiyang, which has always attracted people's attention with its beautiful and clear appearance. It is said that ancient Arabs used it as a "test star" to test soldiers' eyesight when recruiting soldiers.

The Big Dipper always moves slowly in the sky. Five of the stars move in one direction at roughly the same speed, while Shu Tianhe and Yao Guang move in the opposite direction. Therefore, in the long cosmic changes, the shape of the Big Dipper will change greatly. After 654.38+ million years, we will not see this handle shape.

Baidu Encyclopedia-Big Dipper