Muscida marks the muzzle of the Great Bear, a yellow giant out beyond the bowl of the Plough at the tip of the animal’s nose.
At a glance
| type | yellow giant (class G) |
|---|---|
| distance from the Sun | 179 light-years (54.9 pc) |
| its light left it | 179 years ago |
| luminosity | 134 × the Sun |
| radius | 12.1 × the Sun |
| surface temperature | 5,640 K |
| constellation | Ursa Major (Great Bear) |
Read off the piece’s own catalogue, the same values it draws with.
About Muscida
The facts describe a giant star, larger and much brighter than the Sun but with a surface of a similar temperature, so its light is yellow. It has finished burning hydrogen in its core and swollen.
Its name comes from a medieval Latin word for the muzzle, which is exactly where it sits: the Plough is only the hindquarters and tail of the Bear, and fainter stars such as Muscida draw out the head and legs. A giant planet has been found orbiting it by the wobble it induces in the star.
What you see in the piece
In the piece it is drawn at its true distance and brightness; from the Earth it fits into the Bear’s head, but fly away and it drifts free of the figure, at a depth unrelated to the Plough’s stars.
Questions
Where is Muscida in Ursa Major?
It marks the Bear’s nose, west of the bowl of the Plough, in the fainter part of the figure that draws the head.