Arctic

The Arctic is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth, and it consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Alaska (United States), Northern Canada (Canada), Finland, Greenland (Denmark), Iceland, Norway, Russia and Sweden.

But interestingly, its name comes from the sky above that predominantly treeless permafrost-containing tundra. The Great Bear Constellation, officially Ursa Major, comes from Latin where it means “greater she-bear.” Go back earlier to the Greek arktos which is the word for bear.

The name Arctic, meaning bearish, describes not only a land of the polar bear but also the parts of the Earth where the Great Bear constellation dominates the heavens even more than in the rest of the Northern Hemisphere.

A very large constellation, Ursa Major is best known for its famous asterism (star grouping) the Big Dipper.