Maia Callisto with Zeus. Wronged by the love affair, Zeus' wife Hera in a jealous rage had transformed Callisto into a bear. Arcas is the eponym of Arcadia, where Maia was born. The story of Callisto and Arcas, like that of the Pleiades, is an "aition" for a stellar formation, the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, the Great and Little Bear. Her name is related to μαῖα ("maia"), an honorific term for older women related to μήτηρ ("mētēr") 'mother'. "Maia" also means "midwife" in Greek. In ancient Roman religion and myth, Maia embodied the concept of growth, as her name
Ursa Major Moving Group same direction at similar velocities, and also have similar chemical compositions and estimated ages. This evidence suggests to astronomers that the stars in the group share a common origin. Based on the numbers of its constituent stars, the Ursa Major Moving Group is believed to have once been an open cluster, having formed from a protostellar nebula approximately 500 million years ago. Since then, the sparse group has scattered over a region about 30 by 18 light-years, whose center is currently about 80 light-years away, making it the closest cluster-like object to Earth. The Ursa Major Moving Group was discovered