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About the Big Dipper
The Big Dipper is located in northeastern sky and can easily be seen all night long. If you live above the 40th parallel, you will find it with ease.The Big Dipper itself is not a constellation, but an asterism, which Starry Skies as "a small easily recognizable formation of stars that is usually part of a larger constellation." In this case, the Big Dipper is part of the constellation called Ursa Major, or Greater Bear. The stars Alkaid, Mizar, Aloith and Megrez comprise the handle, while Dubhe, Merak and Phecda create the bowl.
Heavy Elements
The Ursa Major constellation has traces of heavy elements and larger amounts of other elements within it. Stars don't create elements heavier than iron, because it would deprive them of too much energy. Astronomer Ken Croswell writes that heavier elements such as barium are not often found in large amounts because "with an atomic number of 56, barium is a heavy element that stars don't like to make."
Other Elements
Despite stars not liking the creation of heavier elements, barium is still found in high abundance within the Ursa Major group. Additionally, Ursa Major is the only group of stars that has high counts of barium, yttrium and zirconium. Ursa Major (including the Big Dipper) also has an abundance of iron. According to Croswell, the barium-to-iron abundance is "twice solar." Ursa Major also has trace amounts of other elements such as copper.
Element Creation
According to Croswell, the heavier elements are created through "a slow neutron flux inside a red giant or supergiant star [that] transforms iron and similar nuclei into heavier elements." Barium, yttrium and zirconium are created through s-process. There are also trace elements of other heavy elements because the iron nuclei are hit by neutrons. Most of the heavy elements found in the Big Dipper are created through this process.