Nowadays there are 88 constellations officially known to scientists The most famous constellation in the Southern hemisphere is the constellation, called the Southern Cross. You can see it on the official flag of Australia and New Zealand. But everybody knows that in the Northern hemisphere of the sky  the most famous constellation, called by the astronomers Ursa Major is the Great Bear. UMa (abbreviation of Ursa Major) is the Latin name of The Big Dipper, the term that is used in the USA and Canada or, the Plough (the UK), or The Great she-Bear,  the most famous constellation in the Northern hemisphere of the sky. It ranks the third in the list among of all 88 other constellations known today.Seven stars (they are often  named by the first letters of Greek alphabet: α β γ δ ε ζ η) of the Great bear compose the figure that resembles a ladle with a handle. Two of the seven brightest stars, Alioth and Dubhe (α and β) can help people find the North star (or Poliaris). You can see them throughout Russia all year round (with the exception of the autumn months when the constellation is low to the horizon). They are best visible in March and April. (By the way, you can see this constellation on the flag of Alaska) In October 2013, in the constellation Ursa Major there was discovered galaxy z8 GND 5296 (with a redshift of z = of 7.51), which by the time of discovery was the most distant galaxy, the light from it was of 13.02 billion years. On March 1, 2016 in the constellation URSA major there was discovered another galaxy GN-z11 (with a redshift of z = 11,1), which at the time of opening  was the most remote from Earth object of the Universe, the light from it was 13.4 billion years.