astronomy

Ursa Major Cluster

Ursa Major Cluster is a astronomy topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Ursa Major Cluster rather than just read about it. In short: The Ursa Major Cluster (Ursa Major I Cluster, UMa I ClG) is a spiral-rich galaxy cluster of the Virgo Supercluster. Some of its largest members are NGC 3631, NGC 3953, M109 on North (M109 Group) and NGC 3726, NGC 3938, NGC 4051 on South.

Key takeaways

Ursa Major Cluster belongs to astronomy; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Ursa Major Cluster to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Ursa Major Cluster from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Ursa Major Cluster (Ursa Major I Cluster, UMa I ClG) is a spiral-rich galaxy cluster of the Virgo Supercluster. Some of its largest members are NGC 3631, NGC 3953, M109 on North (M109 Group) and NGC 3726, NGC 3938, NGC 4051 on South. The Ursa Major cluster is located at a distance of 18.6 megaparsecs (60 million light-years) and contains about 30% of the light emitted but only 5% of the mass of the nearby Virgo Cluster. The Ursa Major Cluster is part of the Ursa Major Cloud, a dense filament of about approximately 580 galaxies, that was identified and described in 1987 by astronomer Brent Tully with colleague Richard Fisher in his book The Nearby Galaxies Atlas, as Cloud 12, and contains many other groups of galaxies besides the Ursa Major Cluster. The Ursa Major Cloud is part of a larger filament, emanating from the Centaurus Cluster through the Virgo Cluster and continues through the Ursa Major Cluster all the way to the Perseus–Pisces Supercluster, that is known as the Virgo Strand or Centaurus–Virgo–PP Filament.

References

External links The Ursa Major Cluster on WikiSky: DSS2, SDSS, GALEX, IRAS, Hydrogen α, X-Ray, Astrophoto, Sky Map, Articles and images

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Ursa Major Cluster

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Ursa Major Cluster claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In astronomy, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Ursa Major Cluster before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Ursa Major Cluster ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Ursa Major Cluster

In research: Ursa Major Cluster appears in astronomy research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Ursa Major Cluster in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Ursa Major Cluster is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Galaxy cluster stubs, Galaxy clusters, Ursa Major, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Ursa Major Cluster outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

Ask Teacher Smith questions about this articleOpens your AI tutor with a question about “Ursa Major Cluster” →

Affiliate

Preply — study more efficiently by working with a personal tutor. 50% off.

How to study Ursa Major Cluster in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Ursa Major Cluster means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Ursa Major Cluster out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Ursa Major Cluster in simple terms?

Why does Ursa Major Cluster matter?

Because it connects several astronomy ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Ursa Major Cluster?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Ursa Major Cluster.