Modern astronomers have officially recognized the dipper's stars as the tail of the Great Bear - the way the ancient Greeks, Germanic tribes and others saw them.

You might ask: When did anyone last see a bear with a long, bushy tail? The answer to this mystery lies in Greek mythology. According to legend, Zeus, the king of the gods, fell in love with a beautiful woman named Callisto. In an act of vengeance, Hera, the wife of Zeus, turned Callisto into a bear and set her up to be killed by her own son, who was a hunter. Just before the arrow could kill Callisto, Zeus grabbed her by the tail and swung her up to the safety of the sky, where she still lives. Being a heavy bear, her tail was stretched.

In springtime the Dipper, along with the entire Great Bear, turns upside down by mid-evening with the North Star below. Starting our tour of the Dipper, the stars that make up the bowl's outer edge are Dubhe and Merak, the famous "pointer" stars that guide stargazers to the North Star.  Continuing around in order, we pass Megrez, the faintest of the seven stars, Phecda, at the joint of the bowl and handle, and Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid, the three handle stars.

Unlike most constellations, where bright stars are unrelated to each other, five stellar members of the Big Dipper belong to the Ursa Major cluster - our nearest star cluster at about 80 light years distant. Born 150 million years ago from the same interstellar cloud, these stars are loosely bound together by gravity, traveling through the Milky Way galaxy in the same direction. The two outcasts are Dubhe and Alkaid, which appear to be drifting in the opposite path in space.   Over tens of thousands of years, the traditional dipper design will become distorted into an unrecognizable shape as these stars wander away from their stellar nursery.

By far the most celebrated star in this brotherhood of the bear is Mizar, the second one in the handle. Its claim to fame is its association to a much fainter companion star, Alcor. Known affectionately as the horse and rider, Mizar and Alcor are traditionally considered good tests for the naked eye and are eternal favourites for backyard astronomers with binoculars and telescopes. The ability to see Alcor was once an indication of keen vision and therefore a test for apprentice hunters. Ancient Arabs referred to it as "the Test" and "the Riddle." Can you see the pair on a clear moonless night?

Too far apart to be orbiting each other, Alcor's appearance close to Mizar is merely coincidental, making the stars an optical binary, separated by more than three light years. Pointing a small telescope at Mizar, however, will reveal a much closer, true companion. First sighted in 1650, this faint star orbits Mizar every 10,000 years. Detailed observations have indicated that Mizar might even be part of a remarkable quintuple star system, while little Alcor is a true binary in its own right.  No matter how long you've been stargazing, coming back to Mizar is always a treat.

While the southwest horizon is full of sparkling jewels that bedazzle us this season, riding high in the desolate northern skies finds the lonely Big Dipper and its parent constellation. For centuries it has been a celestial guidepost for humanity. With its splendid showing of bright and widely dispersed stars, the Great Bear is worth getting to know as it eternally guards the North Star.

- Andrew S. Fazekas's E-mail address is skyfeedback@hotmail.com.