Tour - The Myth of Jupiter and Callisto

The Ursa Major and Minor are represented as a big bear and a small bear.
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Some time after Callisto had been forced out of the company of Diana, she gave birth to a boy child named Arcas. Jupiter's wife Juno was mad and changed Callisto into a bear. Callisto was afraid and she ran away into the woods. One day many years later, when Arcas was a young man, he decided to go hunting, and without knowing it, went into the very woods where his mother Callisto lived. Callisto saw her son and, forgetting that she was a bear, rushed toward him to give him a hug. In fear of his life, Arcas lifted his bow and shot at the charging bear, who was his mother. At the last moment, just before the arrow struck, Jupiter tossed Callisto and her son Arcas into the heavens as the star formations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the big and little bears. We now know these star formations the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper.


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