How many brightest stars is the constellation called the Great Bear made up of?

The correct answer is Seven.

• The seven brightest stars in the constellation are called the Great Bear.

Key Points

• Ursa Major constellation lies in the northern sky. Its name means the great bear, or the larger bear, in Latin. The smaller bear is represented by Ursa Minor.
• Ursa Major is the largest northern constellation and the third largest constellation in the sky. Its brightest stars form the Big Dipper asterism, one of the most recognizable shapes in the sky, also known as the Plough.
• Ursa Major is well-known in most world cultures and associated with a number of myths. It was one of the constellations catalogued by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
• Ursa Major contains a number of notable stars and famous deep-sky objects. These include the Pinwheel Galaxy (M101), Bode’s Galaxy, the Cigar Galaxy, and the Owl Nebula.

Additional Information

• Ursa Major constellation map:  

Important Points

• The biggest known galaxy is IC 1101, which is 50 times the Milky Way's size and about 2,000 times more massive.
  • It is about 5.5 million light-years across. 
• Our Sun (a star) and all the planets around it are part of a galaxy known as the Milky Way Galaxy.
  • A galaxy is a large group of stars, gas, and dust bound together by gravity. The Milky Way is made up of about 90% dark matter, the matter which cannot be seen, and about 10% luminous matter, or matter that we can see with our eyes.
  • The solar system lies about 30,000 light-years from the galactic centre.