This video is sponsored by Skillshare, which is a place where you can learn basically any skill set
for less than ten dollars, more on that later in the video. When you look at this picture there's
probably a few star patterns that stand out to you. For me my eye is instantly drawn to the Big
Dipper pattern and I also notice Cassiopeia on the right side, and after years of studying the
sky I know that Ursa Minor, or the Little Dipper, is in between these two star patterns and one of
the major questions I get as an astronomy teacher is how do you tell the difference between the Big
Dipper and the Little Dipper, and how do you find the North Star. So in this video we're going to
review the similarities and differences between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and how you
can use them both to find Polaris, also called the North Star. Welcome to Learn the Sky my name is
Janine and I'll be your guide as we explore the night sky together one constellation at a time.
Let's jump in with the major differences between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.
The Big Dipper the handle curves differently than it does in the Little Dipper. In this picture it
appears to curve downwards where here it appears to curve upwards, and I'm a little cautious using
the word up and down because the orientation of this star pattern can change in the sky so up
and down are kind of a relative term here. The Big Dipper is also larger in size and if you notice
it's seven stars are a fairly equal magnitude, and that's not the same in terms of the Little Dipper.
Here the Little Dipper only three of the stars appear to be brighter, where the other four are
very difficult to see, and we'll get some practice later on in this video with the fact that you can
really only see three of the stars in The Seven Star pattern of the Little Dipper. The handle
also appears to kind of curve in a different direction when compared to the Big Dipper and it's
definitely smaller in size. So these are the three main differences. So now let's get some practice
with identifying each type of constellation or rather asterism, because the Big Dipper and the
Little Dipper are not true constellations they are names of asterisms. So here's that first picture I
showed you and are you able to find the Big Dipper towards the left side of the photograph, and then
from there if you can find the Big Dipper you should use the pointer stars to aim you towards
Polaris, which is the North Star, this star is pretty much in the center of this Photograph, and
then notice that the handle is curving differently than it does here, and in fact they are similar
curves but it's just the orientation of the pots are slightly different as well, so here is where
the Little Dipper is and notice that only three of the stars are fairly bright where the other
four are more difficult to see, and this is a very good picture of the night sky, you typically don't
see this many stars but this is a long exposure photograph so you can see those Stars just shine
a little bit brighter in this Photograph. I will show you a little bit more realistic picture of
what these star patterns look like. This is where the Big Dipper is, this is where the Little Dipper
is, we have Cassiopeia over here, you can also use Cassiopeia to help orient you towards Polaris as
well, as you can see in this picture, and there are a few other constellations here as well. We
have Draco, or at least the tale of Draco some of the body of Drago, and then Cepheus the King. All
of these five star patterns are circumpolar which means that they can be seen all year round, but our
focus for this video is the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper, and these are actually asterisms,
they're not true star patterns and what that means is that an asterism is a simple star pattern that
can be used as a guide to the night sky. So in the next portion of this video we're going to
look at the Big Dipper a little bit more closely as well as the Little Dipper and then we'll do
some practice shots to help us get used to how to tell them apart in the sky and how to find
them. Before we move on I would like to tell you more about the sponsor for this video, Skillshare.
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Now we'll go over the specifics of the Big Dipper asterism. It is a collection of seven stars in
this very recognizable star pattern, and it has very many names depending on where you live and
which point of history you are looking at. Some names include: the plow, the wagon, the saucepan.
The list is exhaustive and I can't really truly know all the names of The Big Dipper, but in the
United States, which is where I'm from, it's often known as the Big Dipper, and this is a circumpolar
star pattern which means that it can be seen all year round in the northern hemisphere, but the Big
Dipper is really a part of a larger constellation called Ursa Major, and the way that I can tell the
difference between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper are the stars. It's, if I reverse here, these
seven main stars are all of similar brightness and that is not the same when we see speak of
the Little Dipper, and the Big Dipper is one of the first star patterns I teach to all of my students
because it's such a helpful constellation. It can be used to find Polaris, the North Star, by using
the pointer stars. If you use the pointer stars and move in this direction it'll point you towards Leo,
and you can use the handle of the Dipper to arc to Arcturus and speed to Spica. The list goes on and
on and on here. So if there's one star pattern you need to know to help you find other star patterns
the Big Dipper is it. Here's another photograph I have so are you starting to recognize that very
easy star pattern to see, that's the Big Dipper and remember it's part of the constellation known as
Ursa Major, and Ursa Major is a huge constellation. It's like the third largest in the sky, and it can
be seen all year round in the Northern Hemisphere, and there again is where the Big Dipper is, and it
is useful in finding the Little Dipper because you can use the pointer Stars right here to aim
you towards Polaris, which is the North Star, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in the
next portion of this video. Now let's dive into the Little Dipper asterism, this is also a collection
of seven stars that are in a very recognizable star pattern, and how it's different from the
Big Dipper is that the Little Dipper and the constellation pattern Ursa Minor are exactly
the same star pattern. So you can't say that about the Big Dipper, and one thing I want you to notice
is that the stars here are not of equal brightness, and this is what makes it really challenging to
find the Little Dipper, and just like the Big Dipper it is a circumpolar star pattern, which
means that it can be seen all year round in the Northern Hemisphere, and this is such an important
constellation to recognize or rather asterism, I guess I can say both asterism and constellation
because they are the same pattern, but it contains the star known as Polaris, and this is the star
that is located at the tip of the handle in the Dipper shape of the Little Dipper, and this is such
an important constellation or Star rather because it points us in the direction of North, and it's
the star that appears to not move in the sky and this is very helpful when it comes to Celestial
navigation. So let's get some practice. Are you able to notice the Little Dipper pattern here?
Notice the three Bright Stars, right there, and hopefully you can find the handle of the Little
Dipper. It does curve differently than the Big Dipper. If This Were The Big Dipper the handle
would curve down this way, so let's get a little bit more practice with how to find the Little
Dipper and Big Dipper in the sky. So this picture is a little bit more realistic version of what
you would see if you were to go out in the night sky. It's different in the sense that this is a
long exposure photograph, so and it definitely has some filters on it, so it allows us to see
more starlight, but this is more realistic of what you would see, and if you're wondering what this is
this is the side of the house where this picture was taken. So the first thing I can kind of direct
you towards where the Big Dipper is. It's in the center, upper portion of this Photograph, right here,
and if you find the Big Dipper you want to use the pointer stars to point you towards Polaris,
which is right here. It's not a very bright star in the sky, and that's one of the misconceptions
about the North Star is that it's the brightest star in the night sky, but it definitely is not,
it's like the 48 brightest star in the sky. It is a very difficult constellation to see in the night
sky, and you're really able only to see three of the Seven Stars in this star pattern. In the last
portion of this video we will use a Venn diagram to show the difference between the Big Dipper and
the Little Dipper. This is something I do with all my versus videos, and if you haven't seen my other
versus videos go check out that playlist. So let's begin, these two star patterns are similar because
they're both asterisms, they're both circumpolar, and they both contain the same number of stars in
their pattern, however the Big Dipper is larger in size, the asterism pattern is different than that
of the constellation pattern it's a part of. The Big Dipper is just a smaller portion of the larger
constellation known as Ursa Major, and all seven stars of The Big Dipper are of similar brightness,
which makes it easier to find. The curve of the handle is also different than that of the Little
Dipper. The Little Dipper is smaller in size. The asterism pattern is the same as the constellation
pattern, which is rare in terms of asterism patterns, and only three of the stars of The
Little Dipper are bright. The other four are dim and that makes it difficult to find in the night
sky. Also, the curve of the handle is different. I have these two little diagrams I drew to show you
that. Here the handle Curves in one direction, and then the curve is different on the Little Dipper,
as well as the brightness. That's why the size of the dots are different, so I hope this video
was helpful for you in learning the similarities, but ultimately the differences between the two so
you can recognize them when you go outside at night. So to recap one more time, the Big Dipper
and Little Dipper are similar because they're both circumpolar asterisms, they're of similar
shape, and they're important in terms of celestial navigation. However, they're different in terms of
size. The magnitude of the Seven Stars they each contain and the handles do curve differently.
So thank you so much for watching, thank you to Skillshare for sponsoring this video. Be sure to
check out the link below if you want some special deals to gain access to that awesome learning
platform. I know it's been super helpful for me to grow my business, and just learn different skills,
and let me know in the comments are you able to find the Big and Little Dippers? Do you have
any tricks that I didn't talk about in this video that helps you? And of course be sure to keep going
outside get practice by spending time in nature. It's the greatest thing we can do for ourselves.
Seek out dark skies if you can and as always keep looking up. Thank you so much for watching! [Music]