Extending an imaginary straight line from this star [Merek] through the nearby Alpha Ursae Majoris (Dubhe) extends to Polaris, the north star.Five of the stars of the Big Dipper are at the core of the Ursa Major Moving Group. The two at the ends, Dubhe and Alkaid, are not part of the swarm, and are moving in the opposite direction.Mizar’s and Alcor’s proper motions show they move together, along with most of the other stars of the Big Dipper except Dubhe and Alkaid, as members of the Ursa Major Moving Group, a mostly dispersed group of stars sharing a common birth.- Dubhe (stars.astro.illinois.edu)
DUBHE (Alpha Ursae Majoris). Almost first magnitude, shining for us at the front of the bowl of the Big Dipper in Ursa Major, the Great Bear, Dubhe (the “h” silent, the final “e” pronounced almost any way you wish) leads the Dipper in its northeasterly climb above the horizon.