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Ursa Minor



Ursa Minor is sometimes informally called the Little Dipper, because it looks like a smaller and fainter version of the Big Dipper (Ursa Major).

Its brightest star, at the tip of the ladle’s handle is Polaris, the pole star. At second magnitude, it is not especially conspicuous, however.

In the Indian mythology, the pole star, Polaris, is associated with Dhruva. Dhruva was the son of Uttanapada and grandson of Manu, who, when he wanted to seek God’s blessings did Tapasya and was immovable even when God himself appeared before him. Due to the static nature of the pole star, it is personified in the mythology with Dhruva.

The next two brightest stars, Kochab and Pherkad, are often referred to as the guardians of the pole star, because they circle around it.

Ursa Minor lies well away from the plane of the Milky Way, and does not contain any bright deep sky objects.

In Greek mythology, Ursa Minor is commonly associated with one of the two bears who nursed the infant Zeus.

In another version of Greek mythology, Zeus was attracted by many nymphs, but his favorite was the beautiful nymph Callisto. His secret visits to earth to meet with her only added to Hera’s jealousy and determination to get revenge against these women. One day, as Zeus was walking through the forest with Callisto, he saw his wife Hera coming. Unable to hide Callisto in time, he turned her into a large brown bear. When Hera arrived, she saw only Zeus walking by himself through the forest. She looked around, searching for someone with Zeus, but saw only an old brown bear. She still did not trust Zeus and insisted that he return to Mount Olympus. Zeus did not want to go because he wanted to change his girlfriend Callisto back into her human form before leaving. But Hera insisted. So Zeus went with Hera, leaving Callisto as a large brown bear. Unknown to Zeus, Arcas, Callisto’s son who was a great hunter, was out in the woods hunting that day. As chance would have it, he saw this great big brown bear. He put an arrow to his bow, took careful aim, and shot that great bear through the heart. Right before his startled eyes, Arcas watched the bear as it died change back into the form of his mother Callisto with an arrow through her heart. Arcas began to cry loudly for his mother and what he had done to her. When he realized that it was Zeus that had changed her into the bear, he grew even angrier. Zeus, fearing that Hera might hear the cries, went down to earth to try to appease Arcas. In order to hide what he had done, Zeus changed Callisto back into a bear and placed her form, as a constellation, into the northern sky as the Big Dipper. He then changed Arcas into the small bear (the Little Dipper). As Arcas was being placed into the sky, he turned to look at his mother Callisto (now the Big Dipper). That is why the Little Dipper is curved toward the Big Dipper, so that Arcas can watch over his mother Callisto for all eternity.

The Indian name for Ursa Minor is ಲಘು ಸಪ್ತರ್ಷಿ ಮಂಡಲ (Laghu Saptarshi Mandala).

  • Stars
    • Polaris (mag 2.0)
    • Kochab (mag 2.1)
    • Pherkad (mag 3.0)
    • ε-UMi (mag 4.2)
    • 5-UMi (mag 4.2)
    • ζ-UMi (mag 4.3)
    • Yildun (mag 4.3)
    • RR UMi (mag 4.7)
    • 4-UMi (mag 4.8)
    • η-UMi (mag 5.0)
    • θ-UMi (mag 5.0)
    • 11-UMi (mag 5.0)
    • HD 136064 (mag 5.2)
    • HD 124730 (mag 5.2)
    • 19-UMi (mag 5.5)
    • HD 118904 (mag 5.5)
    • HD 149681 (mag 5.6)
    • HD 140227 (mag 5.6)
    • HD 133002 (mag 5.6)
    • HD 158996 (mag 5.7)
    • 18-UMi (mag 5.7)
    • 24-UMi (mag 5.8)
    • HD 117187 (mag 5.8)
    • HD 120084 (mag 5.9)
    • HD 147321 (mag 6.0)
  • Open Clusters
    • IC 4470 (mag 15.0)
  • Globular Clusters
    • None
  • Galaxy

View Ursa Minor in 3D


Source: Wikipedia, in-the-sky.org
Image Courtesy: Sky&Telescope & IAU, Illustration Images linked from Urania's Mirror on Wikmedia Commons by Sidney Hall

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