Northern Lights & Big Dipper at Fairbanks, AK during September.

From the northern hemisphere, an easy way to find Arcturus is to follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper.

It is the star in the tail of the bear closest to its body, and thus the star in the handle of the Big Dipper closest to the bowl.

Big Dipper is the American term for the seven brightest stars of Ursa Major, called the Plough in Britain.

Big Dipper also may refer to:

* Big Dipper, alternative name for a roller coaster ride, especially in the United Kingdom.

** Big Dipper ( Blackpool ), a wooden roller coaster at Blackpool Pleasure Beach

** Big Dipper ( Geauga Lake ), a wooden roller coaster currently Standing but not operating at Geauga Lake

** Big Dipper ( Luna Park Sydney ), a wooden roller coaster operating at Luna Park Sydney from 1935 until 1981

** Cyclone ( Dreamworld ), a steel roller coaster which operated as Big Dipper at Luna Park Sydney from 1995 to 2001

As a nickname in sport, Big Dipper may also refer to:

* Big Dipper ( band ), a 1980s-1990s Boston alternative-rock band

* Big Dipper ( Elton John song ), a 1978 song by Elton John

*" Big Dipper ", a song by Jethro Tull from their 1976 album Too Old to Rock ' n ' Roll: Too Young to Die!

*" Big Dipper ", a song by Built to Spill from their 1994 album There's Nothing Wrong with Love

* Big Dipper ( Michigan's Adventure )

* The Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks, Alaska

* Beidou ( disambiguation ), Chinese name of Big Dipper

de: Big Dipper

fr: Big Dipper ( homonymie )

nl: Big Dipper

simple: Big Dipper ( disambiguation )

Usually the stars were roughly ordered from the head to the feet ( or tail ) of the figure ( as in the Big Dipper ).

For example, the asterism known as the Big Dipper corresponds to the seven brightest stars of the larger IAU constellation of Ursa Major.

The album was a multi-platinum success and produced the pop hit " Lucky One " ( No. 18 pop and No. 2 AC ; No. 1 on Radio & Records ) as well as the title track ( a duet with country music star and future husband Vince Gill ) ( No. 37 pop ) and a cover of Joni Mitchell's frequently covered " Big Yellow Taxi " ( No. 67 pop ) ( in which she changed the line " And they charged the people a dollar and a half just to see em " to " And then they charged the people 25 bucks just to see em ").

* free *, an album by Jim's Big Ego

In the late 1990s, Puerto Rican rapper Big Punisher became the first Latino solo artist to reach platinum sales for an LP with his debut album Capital Punishment, which included hit song Still Not a Player.

* " Legion ", a song by Junkie XL from the album Big Sounds of the Drags

* " Mercedes ", a song by Joseph Arthur, featured on the album Big City Secrets

1977 also saw the debut album from Hamburg's Big Balls and the Great White Idiot, arguably West Germany's first punk band.

His most enduring relationship, however, was with the music of Thelonious Monk: he recorded the first album to feature only Monk compositions ( Reflections, Prestige, 1958 ) and briefly played in Monk's band in 1960 and later on Monk's Big Band / Quartet album ( Columbia, 1963 ).

The Stranglers achieved something of a critical and popular renaissance in 2004 with the acclaimed Norfolk Coast album and a subsequent sell-out tour, together with their first Top-40 hit ( No. 31 UK ) in fourteen years, " Big Thing Coming ".

Following the 1966 tour, the group moved with Dylan to Saugerties, New York, where they made the informal 1967 recordings that became The Basement Tapes, which forged the basis for their 1968 debut album Music from Big Pink.

Producer John Simon is often cited as a " sixth member " of the Band for producing and playing on Music from Big Pink, co-producing and playing on The Band, and playing on other songs up through the Band's 1993 reunion album Jericho.

Their first album, Music from Big Pink ( 1968 ) was widely acclaimed.

After the success of Music from Big Pink, the band went on tour, including a performance at the Woodstock Festival ( which was not included in the famed Woodstock film due to legal complications ) and an appearance with Dylan at the UK Isle of Wight Festival ( several songs from which were subsequently included on Dylan's Self Portrait album ).

The album Music from Big Pink, in particular, is credited with contributing to Clapton's decision to leave the super group Cream.

As a reaction to Ced and Moe's involvement in the Tuff City releases, Kool Keith and Tim Dog reunited on the album Big Time, released under the name Ultra in 1997.

* Up ( Great Big Sea album )

Big Black covered Wire's " Heartbeat " twice, once as a studio version which was released as a single ( also included on The Rich Man's Eight Track Tape compilation ), and also as a live version, featuring Bruce Gilbert and Graham Lewis, that was included on the VHS version of its live album Pigpile.

Their next album, 1984's The Big Express marked a return to the harsher and more abrasive sounds of their early albums, but the combination of the group's ' no touring ' status and the growing disenchantment of their label made it their poorest selling LP to date.

* Columbia: Live at Missouri University, a 1993 live album by American power pop group Big Star

* Ska / punk band Big D and the Kids Table released their song " It's Raining Zombies On Wall Street " on their new album For the Damned, the Dumb & the Delirious.

Yes began recording for their twelfth album, Big Generator, in 1986.