In the northern sky there is a constellation that looks like a ladle or scoop. This is known as the Little Dipper, Ursa Minor, or little bear. The greek gods the thought that the constellation of the bear had a very long tail. This was a result of being spun around the North Pole. The seven brightest stars in the constellation form this outline in the sky. The Little dipper is a smaller version of Ursa Major, which is also a dipper outline.
Ursa Minor was a constellation discovered by 2nd century astronomer Claudius Ptolemaeus; who also discovered 47 other constellations. Ursa Minor remains to this day one of the 88 modern constellations in the night sky. Ursa Minor is visible in the Northern Hemisphere. As long as the North Star is visible then Ursa Minor is visible to the eye. Eventually over time Polaris will not be the North Star, Vega will become the North Star, and replace Polaris it the outline of the Little Dipper.
Ursa Minor is very easily found in the night sky. The last star on the handle is known as Polaris, or the North Star. The North Star is the brightest star in the constellation. If you look into the northern section of the sky, and dead center should be a very bright star, Polaris. Looking to the left center of the north star, you should be able to see the handle of Ursa Minor, and following the handle down, you will see the ladle formed by four stars.
| Names of Major Stars in Ursa Minor | Right Ascension Celestial Coordinates | Declination Celestial Coordinates | Apparent Magnitude | Spectral Class | Absolute Magnitude | Distance from Earth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Polaris | 2h 31m 49.083s | + 89° 15' 50.794" | 1.97 | F7 | -3.64 | 431 Light Years |
| Kochab | 14h 50m 42.326s | +74° 9' 19.818" | 2.07 | K4 | -0.87 | 126 Light Years |
| Pherkad | 15h 20m 43.715s | + 71° 50' 2.458" | 3.00 | A3 | -2.84 | 480 Light Years |
| Yildun | 17h 32m 13.0s | + 86° 35' 11.258" | 4.35 | A1 | 0.61 | 183 Light Years |
| Urodelus | 16h 45m 58.243s | + 82° 2' 14.143" | 4.21 | G5 | -0.92 | 346 Light Years |
| Ahfa al Farkadain | 15h 44m 3.519s | + 77° 47' 40.175" | 4.29 | A3 | -1.02 | 376 Light Years |
| Anwar al Farkadain | 16h 17m 30.287s | + 75° 45' 19.190" | 4.95 | F5 | 2.58 | 97 Light Years |
Polaris is the brightest star in the Little Dipper. It is more Commonly referred to as the North Star. There are 3 different stars that are considered apart of the Polaris Ternary System. They are referred to as Polaris A, Polaris B, & Polaris AB. It was first observed by William Herschel in 1780. In 1929, it was discovered that there were 3 visible stars apart of the bright mass called Polaris. Polaris is actually brighter than the sun, and astronomers have said it is also about 3 times bigger than the sun and therefore it is hard to see each of the 3 different stars. Polaris has an apparant magnitude of 1.97, and it has an absolute magnitude of -3.64. It is located at R.A. 2h 31m 48.7s and Dec +89° 15' 51". It is about 431 light years from Earth. It is classified in the An interesting fact about Polaris, is that in Finnish mythology it was called taivaanneula, which meant that it was a pilla that supported the heavens abouve earth.
Ursa Minor Dwarf galaxy was discovered in 1954 by A.G. Wilson at the Lowell Observartory. It is made up of many mostly old stars. An interesting fact about this galaxy is that there does not appear to be any formation of the stars. The apparant magnitude of this galaxy is 11.9. It is about 240,000 light years from earth. It is located at R.A 15h 9m 8.5s and Dec +67° 13' 21. This galaxy is about 30'.2 X 19'.1 in size.
Kochab is the 2nd brightest star in the bowl of the dipper. This star is about 126 light years away from earth. Kochab and the neighbow star in the dipper are both visible to the naked eye. This star is located at a R.A. of 14h 50m 420.3s and a dec. of +74° 09' 20". This star has an apparant magnitude of 2.07, and an absolute magnitude of -0.87. It is a part of the K4 spectral class. An intersting fact about this star, is that it is 130 times for bright than the sun.
Pherkad star is on the opposite side of the dipper from Kochab. This star is about 480 light years from earch and it is classified in the A3 spectral class. This star is located at R.A 15h 20m 43.7155s and a dec. of +71° 50' 02.458". The apparant magnitude of this star is 3.0, and the absolute is -0.87. An interesting fact about this star is that it has a radius 15 times bigger than the sun.
Little Dipper Article Schaaf, Fred. "Lost Lore of the Little Dipper." Sky & Telescope 115, no. 6 (June 2008): 48. MasterFILE Premier, EBSCOhost (accessed December 2009).
This website provided me with an article that was about the Little dipper. The information in this article was interesting, and fairly easy to navigate around. I was able to find some random pieces on informaiton from this site, which helped to make my website complete.
Wikipedia-Kochab Encyclopedia, W. F. (2009, 11). Kochab. Retrieved 12 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kochab
This website provided me with information on the Kochab Star. It was really easy to understand the information, and it provided me with all of the information that I needed to talk about the details in the description area.
Wikipedia-Pherkad Encyclopedia, W. (2009, 11). Pherkad. Retrieved 12 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pherkad
This website provided me with information on the Pherkad Star. It was really easy to understand the informaiton, and it provided me with all of the information that I needed to talk about the details in the description area.
Wikipedia-Polaris Encyclopedia, W. (2009, 11). Polaris. Retrieved 12 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polaris
This website provided me with the informaiton that I needed about the polaris star. It was really easy to navigate around, and understand the information. I used this resourced several times because it was so easy, and convenient.
Wikipedia-Ursa Minor Encyclopedia, W. F. (2009, 11). Ursa Minor. Retrieved 12 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor
This website was very helpful in providing information about the constellation, the detailed charts were very helpful when I needed to find out the magnitudes, and distance from earth. I also got the Ursa Minor picture, and the picture of Claudius Ptolemaeus from this website. This website provided me with alot of basic information.
Wikipedia-Ursa Minor Dwarf Encyclopedia, W. (2009, 10). Ursa Minor Dwarf. Retrieved 12 2009, from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ursa_Minor_Dwarf
This website provided me with information on the Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy. I had a hard time finding all of the information that I was looking for on this galaxy. However this website provided me with all of the basic information.