Stars always align for the Cubs, Adler astronomer says

CHICAGO (WLS) -- What do the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper and the Chicago Cubs have in common? Well ABC7 Eyewitness News reporter Frank Mathie ventured over to the Adler Planetarium to find out.

Take me out to the Adler Planetarium. Take me out to the stars. The Cubs and the Stars. What's the connection? Astronomer Dr. Lucianne Walkolwicz said the answer is in the north nighttime sky. Just look up.

"The Cubs are in the stars. Most people know them as the big and little dipper. They are actually the constellations of the Big Bear and the Little Bear or the cub," Dr. Walkowicz said.

Finding the Cubs' star is easy, at least at the Adler Planetarium. Start at the tip of the Big Dipper and then head off for Polaris, also called the North Star. Hang a left there and head up through the handle to the cup and you're in the galaxy's dugout.

The Cubs are in the stars, but what about those birds the team just beat? They're up there, too.

"There are bird constellations but they tend to be swans, eagles, peacocks... Not cardinals specifically. Usually it's the cooler birds that get constellations," Walkowicz said.

So Cardinals aren't cool. But the Cubs, they're up there all the time.

"Here in Chicago, because they're in the north, the bear constellations never set. Whereas the bird constellations actually set. They are below the horizon," Dr. Walkowicz said.

Here's to hoping the baseball season doesn't set on our young Cubs anytime soon.