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Astronomy Archive
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Distance to the Big Dipper Stars
Question: What is the distance from Earth of the stars that make up the Big
Dipper constellation?
Ssample
Answer: This information comes from my World Almanac. The distance to the main
stars of the Big Dipper ranges from about 68 light-years (ly) to about 210
light-years, as shown here:
210 ly --> * * <-- 88 ly
* <-- 68 ly
* * <-- 105 ly
90 ly --> * * <-- 78 ly
Most of these stars do actually belong to a single open star cluster
(I don't think the 210 ly one belongs, though). The stars of a given
constellation need not have any physical relationship to each other.
They may be vast distances apart; we simply associate them because they happen
to be in the same general direction, from our viewpoint.
Rcwinther
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