​​Is this a real star constellation in our skies?​

​Is this a real star constellation in our skies? - Answer

Yes – this is Ursa Major. You may recognise some of it as the Big Dipper or the Plough (this is called an asterism, an unofficial constellation and we  have drawn this on the picture as blue lines). We often don’t see the whole of a constellation – because of the amount of light pollution we get from our homes, towns and cities we only see the brightest of the stars and some become invisible for us to see. To see more you could go to an area where the sky is darker – away from lights. You can use an app like Stellarium (https://stellarium.org/)  to help identify the constellations.​
​
Ursa Major can be seen from the UK all year round.​
​
It can be used to find the star called Polaris (also known at the North Star) by following the end of the “saucepan” up (we’ve drawn it on the picture as a red line).​​