How to find Ursa Minor. Constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the sky: list of stars, how to find, legends and description Description of the constellation Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor is a famous constellation in the Northern Hemisphere. Unlike the larger and brighter constellation Ursa Major, Ursa Minor can be quite difficult to find even under good viewing conditions. The best way to see this constellation is to go on a clear night to an area with minimal light pollution and look for Ursa Major in the night sky. Then you can connect the corresponding bright stars with lines and find Ursa Minor.

Steps

Optimal conditions for observation

Choose a suitable clear night for your observations. Plan to stargaze on a clear, cloudless night. Most of the stars in Ursa Minor are quite dim, and even faint clouds can completely obscure them.

Find a secluded area with minimal light pollution. It is best to go to the nearest rural or uninhabited area, if possible. If there is no such area nearby, choose the outskirts of the city where there are as few light sources as possible.

Stay away from buildings, trees and other large obstacles. Ursa Minor is quite small and modest compared to some of the brighter constellations, and a high obstruction can eliminate it from view. Choose an open area with few possible obstacles - this way you will increase your chances of spotting this rather modest constellation.

Even telephone poles and power lines can distract your attention and interfere with your view of the night sky.

The best time to view the night sky is in the spring or summer. The position of Ursa Minor in the sky changes slightly depending on the time of year. This constellation is at its highest point in the sky from about the end of March to the end of September. Because of this, it is best observed in the warm season.

Advice: When trying to find Ursa Minor, remember that it “rises in the spring and falls in the fall.”

Use virtual media to admire Ursa Minor from the Southern Hemisphere. Don't be discouraged if you don't have the opportunity to directly observe Ursa Minor where you live - there are many different tools and resources that will give you an idea of this constellation. For example, its structure and location relative to other stars can be seen using astronomical websites and digital star charts. If you want an even more complete view, try downloading a star-finding app with a full 360-degree view of the sky, such as SkyView or Star Tracker.

Detection of Ursa Minor from other stars
1. Find the north direction using a compass. If you don't have a regular compass, you can use a compass app on your smartphone or tablet. The constellation Ursa Minor, along with its main stars (Pole Star, Ferkad and Kohab), as well as such neighboring bright stars as Dubhe and Merak, is located in the sky of the Northern Hemisphere. Using these stars you can find this constellation.
  
  Find it in the northern sky North Star . After you face north, look up and try to find the North Star. This is the first and brightest star of Ursa Minor, and if you spot it, you will easily find this constellation, even if you cannot see its full outline.
  
  Advice: If you have a telescope or binoculars, it is best to first determine with your naked eye where Ursa Minor should be in the sky, and then view it with the instrument.
  
  Find one near Polaris Ursa Major dipper . It's quite simple, just look up. Start looking at the north side of the sky, as the Big Dipper is known to orbit the North Star. Then use the Big Dipper bucket as a guide, with which you can easily find the Little Dipper.
  
  If you can't find Polaris or the Big Dipper, look for Dubhe and Merak. These two stars are located on the outer edge of the Big Dipper's bucket. With their help you can determine the direction to the North Star. Merak forms the lower and Dubhe the upper corner of the ladle.

Ursa Minor is an amazing constellation in the northern part of the sky, translated from Latin as “lesser bear,” which Ptolemy included in his “heavenly” catalog in the 2nd century. Scientists suggest that the discovery of the constellation belonged to earlier astrologers: the Greek sage Thales or the Phoenicians, who always used a ladle for navigation.

The constellation covers an impressive area of 256 square degrees, and can be observed all year round.

From mythology

There are several stories of the origin of Ursa Minor in the sky. One of them tells the story of Callisto, the mistress of Zeus, and her maid. The young charmer Callisto really liked Zeus, who secretly came to her on dates. Hera, the wife of the Thunderer, found out about this and turned the homewrecker into a bear. Zeus sent his former lover to heaven, and with her her maid, who is a constellation called Ursa Minor.

In another version of the myth, Ursa Minor is Callisto's son, Arkad, who accidentally almost shot his mother in the form of a bear. Zeus sent Callisto to heaven with her son, whom she loved very much.

The main stars of Ursa Minor

Polaris is the most famous and brightest star in the constellation. This is a system represented by 5 objects, 2 of which are satellites. The star is the main navigation tool for astronomers. It is very variable, which is confirmed by the difference between the studies of Ptolemy (recorded as a 3rd magnitude star) and the modern astronomer E. Hertzsprung (2nd magnitude).

The Kohab star is a giant star 130.9 light years distant from Earth. It is believed that it revolves around the brightest luminary - the North Star, and is called the “guardian of the pole”. Translated from Arabic it means “north star”, 130 times brighter than the Sun, and 2.2 times more massive.

Ferkad is a star named “calf” (from Arabic). It is 15 times larger than the Sun and more than a thousand times brighter. It is 487 light years away from us and is considered a variable star.

Yildun is a bright white dwarf whose name comes from Turkish and means “star”.

The touching story of Ursa Minor will not leave anyone indifferent. Buying a star and giving it as a gift means giving unforgettable emotions.

Ursa Minor is the constellation most popular among night sky lovers. The universe is full of surprises and unexpected discoveries. There is so much unknown in it!

The luminaries that are visible in the sky turn out to be a huge accumulation of gases, and the pattern of constellations takes on bizarre shapes. Is there anything similar or are they all unique?

It will be interesting for children and their parents to watch the night sky, and before that learn a lot about the secrets of the world.

What does the constellation Ursa Minor look like?

The Little Dipper is located next to the Big Dipper and forms a small bucket. By connecting all the stars included in it with a line, you get the same vessel familiar from childhood.

The cluster of celestial bodies itself is quite dim, and it is easier to find it in a dark sky.

To see this constellation with the naked eye, you need to find the North Star, which, due to its size and brightness, will be the first to catch your eye.

The brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor

The brightest point in the sky appears so only to human eyes. In fact, there are many brighter objects. However, the North Star shines more spectacularly than the others. It is a supergiant and has two satellites.

The star itself is central, and its brightness exceeds the capabilities of the Sun by 2000 times. The existence of a second satellite became known not so long ago due to its size. The dwarf satellite has not been visible to the photographic lenses of telescopes from Earth for many years.

Names of stars in the constellation Ursa Minor

The constellation is formed from several parts. They are inferior in brightness to their neighbors from the Big Dipper, but are nevertheless clearly visible in a clear sky.

Four of them have their own names, the rest are named by letters of the Greek alphabet:

Alpha. The first in the constellation, also called Polaris. The brightest in the night sky.
Beta. Another name is Kohab. The second brightest in a cluster of stars. It has a satellite and is an orange giant.
Gamma is Ferkad. Beta and Gamma constellations are translated from Arabic as “two calves.”
Delta, Epsilon, Zita and Ita do not have special names.

All of them are more than 400 light years away from Earth.

How to find Ursa Minor from Ursa Major

Here's a little instruction:

Choose a night with cloudless weather. In a clear sky it is much easier to find the dim lights of Ursa Minor. It is better to choose a place without artificial lighting. It’s difficult to find this in big cities, so you can move further to the outskirts.
Find the Big Dipper in the sky. It is difficult to confuse it with something else, since due to its relatively close distance to Earth, the stars in this constellation shine brighter than others. It is shaped like a trapezoid with a long handle.
Find the North Star. It is located further north than Ursa Major, and is the extreme point in Ursa Minor.
This is what we were looking for. From the handle of the bucket, mentally move your gaze to the bucket itself and the entire constellation will be before your eyes.

How to find the North Star in the sky

The easiest way to locate the North Star is by Ursa Major. The brightly burning parts of this constellation can be seen all year round in Russia and a number of other countries in the northern hemisphere. They are a big bucket.

From the extreme points that draw his image, you need to mentally draw a line that is five times longer than the length between this segment.

Another way to find a Cepheid is to use a compass. The North Star is a guiding star for travelers. She directed them to the North Pole.

Observing the luminary, you can see that it is the only one that does not change position. As the night progresses, all the constellations move across the night sky, and it freezes motionless over the North Pole.

Why are the constellations called Ursa?

The appearance of the constellations does not even remotely resemble either a brown or a white animal. Then why weren’t they called “ladles”? It is believed that the name came from the Greeks, who knew about its close location to the North Pole.

A map was a great luxury, so we navigated by the sky. Their assumption, even in 545 BC, turned out to be true.

Who is the main inhabitant of the North Pole? Of course, a bear. This is where the name of the two constellations, located near the northernmost point of the planet, comes from.

Myths and legends about Ursa Major and Ursa Minor

The existence of constellations has been known for a very long time. Even before our era, they were guides for travelers. However, to the ancient Greeks they were more than just bright spots in the sky.

According to myths, the thunder god Zeus once had a secret lover. The story goes that she was famous for her unearthly beauty and attracted the gaze of all men. Her name was Callisto.

One day a girl broke the rules, her little mistake cost her dearly. She was turned into a terrible bear. Zeus, deciding to protect the beauty, threw her into the sky, and tried so hard that he stretched her tail. That is why it is now so long at the Big Dipper.

The girl's faithful companion was her dog, which was turned into a bear cub that followed her to heaven. The tale was common among the ancient Greeks.

The vastness of the starry sky can show many unusual things. You can even learn a lot of interesting things about the familiar bears. How many more unknown constellations are hidden in the vastness of space? Knowledge opens a window to a person into the world of our Universe.

(lat. Ursa Minor) is a circumpolar constellation in the northern hemisphere of the sky. It occupies an area of 255.9 square degrees in the sky and contains 40 stars visible to the naked eye.

Ursa Minor currently houses the North Celestial Pole, at a distance of about 1° from the North Star. The constellation was probably identified by the Phoenicians as useful for navigation.

click on the image to enlarge it

Stars

The brightest stars of the constellation:

Polaris (α UMi). Magnitude 2.02m.
Kohab (βUMi). Apparent magnitude 2.08m. In the period from approximately 2000 BC. e. to 500 AD e. Kohab was the bright star closest to the North Pole and played the role of the polar star, which is reflected in its Arabic name Kohab el Shemali(Star of the North).
Ferkad (γ UMi). Magnitude 3.05m.

Asterisms

Asterism Small Bucket forms a characteristic, memorable figure in the sky. Includes seven stars - α (Polar), β (Kokhab), γ (Ferkad), δ, ε, ζ and η Ursa Minor. The Small Dipper resembles the shape of the Big Dipper asterism, located nearby in the constellation Ursa Major.

The pair of extreme stars of the Bucket (Kokhab and Ferkad) represent an asterism Guardians of the Pole.

Searching the sky

The constellation is visible all year round. To find the North Star (α Ursa Minor), you need to mentally extend the segment between Merak (β Ursa Major) and Dubhe (α Ursa Major) to a distance 5 times its length.

Story

According to Hyginus, this constellation was introduced into ancient astronomy by Thales of Miletus and is included in the Almagest catalog of the starry sky.

The legend about the birth of Zeus is also associated with Ursa Minor. To save her son from father Cronus, who was eating his children, the goddess Rhea took Zeus to the top of Mount Ida, in a sacred cave, and left him in the care of the nymphs and their mother Melissa (or two nymphs Melissa and Kinosura). In gratitude, Zeus later ascended to heaven Melissa in the form of Ursa Major and Kinosura in the form of Ursa Minor; on ancient maps, Ursa Minor (or just the North Star) is sometimes called Kinosura (“ dog's tail"). Note that in early versions of the myth, Melissa and Kinosura are bears, who later transformed into nymphs.

The Phoenicians, the best navigators of early antiquity, used the constellation for navigational purposes, unlike the Greeks, who navigated by the Big Dipper, which is obviously less accurate.

The peoples of Kazakhstan called the North Star an “iron nail” ( Temir-Kazyk), driven into the sky, and in the remaining stars of Ursa Minor they saw a lasso tied to this nail, worn around the neck of the Horse (constellation Ursa Major). The Arabs mistook the stars of Ursa Minor for horsemen, and the Persians saw in it the Seven Fruits of the Date Palm.

Constellation Ursa Minor from the Atlas "Uranographia" by John Hevelius (1690)

click on the image to enlarge it

Who doesn't know where the constellation is Ursa Minor or, he never looked at the sky in the dark. He will not be able to understand at night where is north and where is south. Polaris is less than 1° from the North Celestial Pole. And you can find it in the sky in many ways: I’m sure that during school years, parents or teachers showed where it was. And if not, it’s okay, let’s get acquainted.

Legend and history

The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Thales of Miletus invented and added the constellation Ursa Minor to the catalog of the starry sky of Claudius Ptolemy “Almagest”.

There are many legends associated with Ursa Minor. For example, one of them is associated with the birth of Zeus. The goddess Rhea took her newborn son to the top of Mount Ida and left her there in the care of the nymphs (Kinosura) and their mother Melissa. She did this to escape from Father Kron, who was eating his children. Having matured, Zeus ascended Melissa to heaven in the form of Ursa Major, and Kinosura as Ursa Minor. By the way, on ancient maps the North Star was called Kinosura, which translated means “dog’s tail.”

Other sources (according to Arata) in ancient times called the constellation “Little Chariot” (Ursa Major - “Great Chariot”).

The Arabs perceived Ursa Minor as horsemen. Persians - seven fruits of the date palm.

The Romans depicted it as a Spartan dog.

The Indians associated this part of the sky with a monkey.

In Ancient Babylon they even saw a leopard. And so on. Each culture and civilization tried to consider something subject to it.

Characteristics

The most interesting objects to observe in the constellation Ursa Minor

1. Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217

NGC 6217- barred spiral galaxy (). The apparent magnitude is only 11 m, and the angular dimensions of the galaxy are 3.0′ × 2.5′. At the end of the 18th century (in 1797) it was discovered by the English astronomer William Herschel.

Unfortunately, to distinguish the “arms” of the galaxy you will need a powerful telescope with an aperture of 200 millimeters or more. I found a nice amateur photo of the galaxy on the Internet. NGC 6217:

In fact, if you look more closely, you can clearly distinguish spiral irregularities and a very saturated galactic core. The closest bright star to the galaxy is ζUMi(4.3 m), but it is unlikely that you will lay the route exactly from it. In the immediate vicinity of the desired deep-sky object there is a characteristic small cluster of stars, visible even in a finder - they will serve as an excellent landmark.

2. Polaris (α UMi)

First of all, Polaris (α UMI) is a star that consists of a dwarf, spectral class F. The brightness of the system is 2.02 m. The distance to the Sun is 320 light years, somewhere you can find the number 435.

Amateur telescopes will not be able to discern the second component of the star. It is located too close, plus the main component is bright. Cepheid has a pulsation period of slightly more than 4 days, while the brightness amplitude changes by 0.12 m.

The polar star is not difficult to find: one option is to mark five distances in the sky between the two stars of the bucket (Dubhe and Merak) of the Big Dipper in the direction opposite to the bottom of the bucket. If you haven’t succeeded before, be sure to practice and remember.