The Constellation Ursa Minor

by Dominic Ford
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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.

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.

Date First Appeared
Ancient
Sky Area
0.6% of the sky
255.9 square degrees
Messier Objects
Ursa Minor contains no Messier objects
Caldwell Objects
Ursa Minor contains no Caldwell objects
Neighbors
The following constellations neighbor Ursa Minor: Camelopardalis, Cepheus, Draco.
Ursa Minor Ursa Minor
The constellation Ursa Minor as it appears to the unaided eye. Roll mouse over to see labels.
Source: Stellarium.

San Diego

Latitude:
Longitude:
Timezone:

32.72°N
117.16°W
PDT

Color scheme


Brightest Objects in Ursa Minor

Hover the pointer over the name of an object to highlight its position on the starchart to the right, or click to see more information.

Stars Open Clusters Globular Clusters Galaxies
Polaris (mag 2.0) NGC 5385 NGC 6217 (mag 11.2)
Kochab (mag 2.1) NGC 5832 (mag 12.3)
Pherkad (mag 3.0) NGC 5912 (mag 13.0)
ε-UMi (mag 4.2) NGC 5144 (mag 13.2)
5-UMi (mag 4.2) NGC 6324 (mag 13.4)
ζ-UMi (mag 4.3) IC 1129 (mag 13.5)
Yildun (mag 4.3) NGC 6048 (mag 13.5)
RR UMi (mag 4.7) NGC 5909 (mag 13.6)
4-UMi (mag 4.8) NGC 3172 (mag 13.6)
η-UMi (mag 5.0) NGC 5262 (mag 13.7)
θ-UMi (mag 5.0) NGC 5939 (mag 13.7)
11-UMi (mag 5.0) NGC 6079 (mag 13.9)
HIP 74605 (mag 5.2) NGC 5607 (mag 13.9)
HIP 69373 (mag 5.2) NGC 6251 (mag 14.0)
19-UMi (mag 5.5) NGC 5034 (mag 14.1)
HIP 66435 (mag 5.5) NGC 6068 (mag 14.1)
HIP 80480 (mag 5.6) NGC 5452 (mag 14.1)
HIP 76519 (mag 5.6) IC 4660 (mag 14.2)
HIP 72573 (mag 5.6) NGC 5323 (mag 14.2)
HIP 84769 (mag 5.7) NGC 5808 (mag 14.2)
18-UMi (mag 5.7) NGC 5671 (mag 14.3)
24-UMi (mag 5.8) NGC 6011 (mag 14.4)
HIP 65536 (mag 5.8) NGC 6094 (mag 14.4)
HIP 66903 (mag 5.9) IC 954 (mag 14.4)
HIP 79601 (mag 6.0) NGC 5314 (mag 14.5)
HIP 81854 (mag 6.0) IC 1143 (mag 14.6)
HIP 83317 (mag 6.2) IC 1046 (mag 14.7)
HIP 74272 (mag 6.2) IC 1154 (mag 14.7)
HIP 73706 (mag 6.2) NGC 6071 (mag 14.7)
HIP 59767 (mag 6.3) NGC 6091 (mag 14.8)
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