Latest news with #UrsaMinor
Axios
01-07-2025
- Politics
- Axios
From lane-splitting to the state fossil, these are Minnesota's newest laws
Parched concert-goers, motorcyclists and young social media influencers get new protections in Minnesota as of July 1. The big picture: A long list of laws taking effect, including changes targeting those three groups, will impact Minnesotans' lives in ways big and small. State of play: Many of the new provisions, including tens of billions of dollars in spending, passed as part of the two-year state budget last month. Zoom in: Here are some of the notable new laws, according to an annual list released by the Minnesota House's Public Information Services. 💧 Venues hosting ticketed events for 100 or more attendees must provide free water and allow people to bring sealed or empty water bottles inside. 🏍️ Motorcyclists can legally pass between lanes of traffic under a new lane-splitting law that supporters say is aimed at improving flow and reducing accidents. The fine print: They have to be traveling in the same direction and going 25mph or less. 📲 Some kids featured in online videos or photos posted by "content creators" will be guaranteed a portion of the profits — which must be deposited into a trust account until they turn 18 — under a first-of-its-kind law meant to protect young people from exploitation. 🦫 In news that lovers of paleontology and astronomy will appreciate: Minnesota now has a state fossil (the giant beaver) and constellation (Ursa Minor, aka the Little Dipper). 🤒 Employers may request a doctor's note after a worker takes two or more days off under the state's guaranteed paid sick time law. The original law allowed workplaces to ask for documentation after three days. 📆 Districts can move the first day of school up to Sept. 1 — instead of the traditional post-Labor Day start — for the 2026-27 and 2027-28 academic years, when the holiday falls in the second week in the month. Other changes encourage school boards to add a student representative and allow students to carry — and use — anti-overdose medicines like Narcan on campus. 🎣 Open season for largemouth and smallmouth bass now lasts all year. 🛥️ As we reported last week, boaters under 21 need a permit to operate a vessel without supervision. 👶 Pediatricians must tell parents about signs of infant abuse and give instructions on how to report suspected issues.
The Independent
01-05-2025
- Science
- The Independent
Stargazing in May: A tale of two bears
Once upon a time, back in the golden age of gods and humans, the great god Jupiter caught sight of a nymph named Callisto. Her name means "the most beautiful," and Jupiter was smitten. But Callisto was a follower of Diana, goddess of the hunt, and sworn to chastity. That didn't deter Jupiter. He changed himself into the shape of Diana and lay down beside Callisto – who didn't realise the deception. When Callisto gave birth to a son, Arcas, she was expelled from Diana's group. Worse still, Jupiter's jealous wife Juno was on her trail. To protect Callisto, Jupiter turned her into a bear. Years passed, and Arcas – now a young man – stumbled across a bear while hunting in the woods. As he drew back his bow to bag this fine prize, Jupiter intervened to prevent the impending matricide: he turned Arcas into a bear, too, swung both ursines around by the stumpy tales and flung them into the sky, where they became the constellations we know to this day as the Great Bear (Ursa Major) and the Little Bear (Ursa Minor). In each constellation, four stars mark the bear's body, fainter stars (not shown on my star chart) depict their heads and legs, and a curve of three stars trace their long fluffy tails. And if you say – hey, bears don't have long tails! – then consider that when you swing a heavy beast around by its stump of a tail, then something has got to give… This account of the origin of the two celestial bears comes from the Roman poet Ovid, based on myths of the ancient Greeks. But the connection of Ursa Major with a bear goes back millennia earlier, to a bear-cult that was widespread across Siberia. Some astronomers think that Ursa Major is our oldest constellation, dating back 30,000 years to the time when humans crossed from Siberia into North America, because Native North American tribes also associate this star pattern with a bear. In their legends, the four stars in a rectangle depict the bear itself, while the three stars of the "tail" are a trio of hunters tracking it down. The seven bright stars in Ursa Major are the most recognisable star pattern in the sky, along with Orion. In Britain, they traditionally form the Plough; though – with this agricultural implement now obsolete – many people call it the Saucepan. In contemporary North America it's the Big Dipper, with its companion Ursa Minor denoted as the Little Dipper. Look closely at the handle of the Saucepan (or Big Dipper) and you'll see that the middle star – Mizar – has a fainter companion, called Alcor. It's one of the few double stars that you can split with the naked eye. Mizar and Alcor are often called the Horse and Rider, though in the native American tradition where these stars are hunters, Alcor is the pot they are carrying to cook the bear after they've killed it. The most famous star in the Little Bear is Polaris, otherwise known as the Pole Star or the North Star. As its name suggests, Polaris lies directly over the Earth's North Pole, so it always lies to the north in the sky as our planet rotates under it. Locate the Pole Star by drawing a line from the two end stars of the Plough (see the star chart), and you know you facing due north. As millennia pass, the Earth's axis swings slowly around in space, so Polaris was not always the star above the spinning planet. When the Greek astronomer Ptolemy drew up the definitive list of constellations that we largely use today, around AD 150, the north pole of the sky lay about half-way along Ursa Minor. Instead of focusing on one star, Greek astronomers used the whole star-pattern to indicate north. Greek navigators had an alternative name for the Little Bear – Kynosoura – which literally means "dog's tail" and must derive from some other ancient constellation-makers now lost to history. Because Kynosoura was the focus for both astronomers and navigators, the word cynosure has passed down to us as something that's the centre of attention, as in "the Mona Lisa is the cynosure of all eyes in the Louvre." What's Up After blazing in our evening sky since last autumn, Jupiter is now on its way out. You can catch the giant planet low in the north-west after sunset, but it's slipping down into the twilight glow. A narrow crescent Moon lies above Jupiter on 28 May. Mars is gradually fading as the faster-moving Earth pull away from the Red Planet, and it's now fainter than some of the stars in the evening sky. You'll find Mars between Regulus, in Leo, and the twin stars Castor and Pollux in Gemini. The Moon is nearby on 3 May; and on the next evening Mars brushes across the top of the star cluster Praesepe (popularly known as the Beehive): a memorable sight in binoculars or a small telescope. To the south, Leo's leading light Regulus forms a large triangle with another bluish-white star – Spica, in Virgo – and orange Arcturus in Boötes. The dim sprawling constellations of Hercules and Ophiuchus are rising in the east. There's more action in the morning sky. First, if you're up early on 6 May, watch out for particles from Halley's Comet speeding across the heavens and burning up as shooting stars, in the Eta Aquarid meteor shower. And Venus is putting on a brilliant show as the Morning Star, rising around 4am in the east. To its lower right – and 200 times fainter – you'll find Saturn. On the mornings of 22, 23 and 24 May the crescent Moon moves past these two planets as it heads towards the month's New Moon. Diary 3 May: Moon near Mars 4 May, 2.52pm: First Quarter Moon; Mars very near Praesepe 5 May: Moon near Regulus 6 May, before dawn: Maximum of Eta Aquarid meteor shower 9 May: Moon near Spica 12 May, 5.56pm: Full Moon 21 May, 0.59am: Last Quarter Moon 22 May, before dawn: Moon near Saturn 23 May, before dawn: Moon between Venus and Saturn 24 May, before dawn: Moon near Venus 27 May, 4.02am: New Moon
