Ursa Major moving group

The Ursa Major Moving Group is a group of stars that move together through space. These stars travel at similar speeds and in similar directions, which suggests they came from the same place long ago. Scientists think these stars formed about 300 million years ago.

This group of stars is also called Collinder 285 or the Ursa Major association. The closest part of this group is about 80 light years from Earth, which is fairly close in space. It is located inside something called the Local Bubble, a big, empty area in space.

One of the most exciting parts about this group is that it includes many stars that we can easily see. Most of the stars in the Big Dipper belong to this moving group. The Ursa Major Moving Group helps astronomers learn about how stars are born and how they move together over millions of years.

Discovery and constituents

All the stars in the Ursa Major Moving Group move in almost the same direction at similar speeds. They also have similar chemical makeup and ages. This makes astronomers think these stars came from the same place long ago.

This group of stars was found in 1869 by Richard A. Proctor. He noticed that, except for Dubhe and Alkaid, the stars of the Big Dipper all move toward the same spot in the sky. Some well-known stars in this group include Alpha Coronae Borealis, Beta Aurigae, Delta Aquarii, Gamma Leporis, and Beta Serpentis.

Proper motions visualised