The body and tail of the Great Bear are well known. They form the Big Dipper. But you have to go a long way from the dipper to find the bear’s nose. It is marked by Muscida – a name that means “muzzle.”

Muscida is much bigger and brighter than the Sun. It’s also much more massive than the Sun, so it’s aged out in a hurry. It’s used up the hydrogen in its core, and is getting ready to move to the next major phase of life – even though it’s four billion years younger than the Sun.

The star has at least one companion, and maybe two. The confirmed companion is a planet. It’s bigger and heavier than Jupiter, the giant of our own solar system. It orbits Muscida at about four times the distance from Earth to the Sun. At that range, the planet is likely to get roasted as Muscida enters the next phase, which will make the star much puffier and brighter.

The “maybe” companion is a small, faint star that’s billions of miles away. Astronomers haven’t watched the stars long enough to confirm that they’re bound to each other. But the stars share a common motion through space, which is much faster than the stars around them. That suggests the system is a runaway – zipping through space in a big hurry – perhaps destined to leave the galaxy behind.

The Big Dipper is standing upright as night falls, with the bowl above the handle. Muscida is well above the dipper. Unless you’re in a light-polluted city, it’s easy to see.

Script by Damond Benningfield