 Greetings and welcome to the Introduction to Astronomy. In this week's Misconception in Astronomy, we are going to talk about the Big Dipper and find out whether it is or is not a constellation. So is the Big Dipper a constellation? Well, the answer is definitely no. The Big Dipper is a prominent grouping of stars, and we can see the seven stars that make up the handle and then the bowl of the Dipper here. But this is not a constellation, it is actually part of another constellation, which is the Great Bear. And we can see that here, that is the constellation of Ursa Major. Now if you look at that constellation, you can see those same seven stars and a slightly different orientation here, but that is just one portion of the large bear. And you can see how Ursa Major stretches outward to the right here and down below the Big Dipper. So the Big Dipper is only a portion of a constellation, it is not a constellation in itself, and here it represents the hindquarters and tail of the larger bear. So what is the Big Dipper? The Big Dipper is what is called an asterism. What is an asterism? Well, it's just a grouping of bright stars. So they can be within a given constellation such as the Big Dipper, or they can go across multiple constellations such as the Summer Triangle that we see here. So the Summer Triangle consists of three bright stars, Vega, Deneb, and Altair. Each of those stars is the brightest star in its own constellation. So an asterism can be part of a constellation, or it can be bright stars that are in different constellations that form a prominent pattern in the sky. So either of those is possible, and that's what the Big Dipper is. The Big Dipper is just the most prominent portion of the constellation of Ursa Major. So let's summarize here what we looked at. First of all, we found out the Big Dipper is not a constellation. It is an asterism that is located within the constellation that is Ursa Major or the Great Bear. And an asterism is a grouping of stars and can be within a single constellation or can span multiple constellations as we saw with the Summer Triangle. So that concludes this misconception on the Big Dipper being a constellation. We'll be back again next week for another misconception in astronomy. So until then, have a great day everyone, and I will see you in class.