1. M IZAR By: Maggie Davis

2. M IZAR /S UN S TATISTICS Temperature: 9600 kelvins / 5778 kelvins Color: White/Yellow Distance from sun: Roughly 77.2 light years away from our sun Diameter: 1.9 million miles/ 865000 million miles

3. M IZAR ’ S BINARY SYSTEM ( CONTINUED ) Each of the stars that make up Mizar A and B are actually two stars. Also, there is a third star orbiting the two stars of Mizar B, which is called Alcor. In all, that’s 5 stars! Mizar A and B are perhaps the most famous binary star system. Alcor and Mizar are commonly known as a double star, even though they are not actually a double star, just part of a very fascinating binary system!

4. T HE BIG DIPPER Mizar is part of the constellation The Big Dipper. Although the main story behind the constellation is that Zeus fell in love with a mortal woman named Callisto, and had a son (Actas) with her. When Zeus’ wife Hera found out, she became so jealous that she turned Callisto into a bear. When Callisto failed to return from a trip she had been on, Actas went looking for her in the woods, and became very frightened when a bear (Callisto) started running at him. Not realizing that the bear was in fact his mother, Actas took out an arrow and began to get it ready to shoot the bear.

5. T HE BIG DIPPER ( CONTINUED ) Seeing this, Zeus came down to earth and changed Actas into a bear, for he was not able to undo Hera’s spell, and flung both of them in to the sky by their tails. It is believed that this is the reason that the bears tail is so long. It is believed that the 4 stars making the cup are the bear, and the handle is the tail..

6. T HE B IG D IPPER (C ONTINUED ) It is also commonly believed that Once apon a time in the land of the Basques, a man was robbed of two oxen by two thieves. Very angry, the man sent his servant, his housekeeper, and his dog out to chase the thieves. After a while, the impatient man joined the chase. As punishment for his impatience, the man and everyone else in the story were taken up into the sky. The first two stars in the cup of the dipper are the two oxen, the other two stars are the two thieves; in the handle of the dipper are the servant, the housekeeper, and the master, who is the final star. The dog is the faint star, Alcor.

7. H-R D IAGRAM

8. M IZAR ’ S L IFE C YCLE Mizar started out as part of a Nebula, which then pulled together as a protostar. This protostar then became so dense and hot that nuclear fusion started within the star. During nuclear fusion, enormous amounts of energy are released. Mizar will be able to live up to approximately 10 billion years old. It is approximately 20-500 million years old, so it is an “adult”. When Mizar dies, it will grow very big and the gas particles that make up the star will eventually float into space, leaving Mizar’s white core as a white dwarf.