[hattend]

Five of the Big Dipper stars are actually near each other in space and were likely formed at nearly the same time.

Really? Which 5? They must be a lot closer than I have ever thought.

[Verginius Rufus]

The first and last stars in the dipper are not moving with the others (the 7 stars are named in order of position starting with the top front of the dipper and ending with the end of the handle: Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Delta, Epsilon, Zeta, Eta). Alpha and Zeta are not part of the group.

Other stars believed to belong to the group (according to Wikipedia) are Alpha Coronae Borealis, Beta Aurigae, Delta Aquarii, Gamma Leporis, and Beta Serpentis.

Most of them seem to be around 80 light years away but Gamma Leporis is only 29 light-years away and Beta Serpentis is 150 light years away.