Okay, guys, so, today I was looking at one of those crossword puzzles, you know, the ones from the New York Times. I stumbled upon a clue, “bear in constellation names,” and I was like, what could that be? I mean, bear in the names of the constellations? This got me curious.
First, I started by looking at the date when this clue was published. It seemed like it’s been used before, but the most recent one was from April 29, 2024. I wanted to figure this out, so I began searching online for any information on constellations that have “bear” in their names.
I went through a bunch of websites and, you know, those crossword solver sites. It turned out there’s only one answer for this. I dug a bit deeper, looking for different definitions and examples to make sure I was on the right track.
After some searching, I found out that the answer is related to two major constellations. These constellations are pretty famous and have been used for ages to navigate the night sky. The names are Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Yeah, those are the ones!
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Ursa Major, also called the Great Bear, is this big constellation up in the northern sky. Apparently, its stories and myths go way back, like, really way back. Its name in Latin means “greater bear” or “larger bear.”
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Then there’s Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. This one is right near Ursa Major. These two are like the first constellations listed in old star catalogs.
I also read that some Native American folks saw a part of Ursa Major, called the Big Dipper, as the body of a bear. How cool is that?
So, basically, I figured out that “bear in constellation names” refers to Ursa. It all made sense when I realized that Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are also known as the Great Bear and the Little Bear. It was a fun little puzzle to solve. It’s amazing how much history and stories are connected to these stars!
Next time you are looking at the stars, you can try to find Ursa Major and Ursa Minor for yourself! It is really cool and you should try to find them.
