Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Ursa Minor (Latin for 'Lesser Bear', contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation located in the far northern sky.As with the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the North American name, Little Dipper: seven stars with four in its bowl like its partner the Big Dipper.
• Var = Variable star designation • HD = Henry Draper Catalogue designation number • HIP = Hipparcos Catalogue designation number • RA = Right ascension for the Epoch/Equinox J2000.0 • Dec = Declination for the Epoch/Equinox J2000.0 • vis. mag. = visual magnitude (m or m v), also known as apparent magnitude
The North Star , the current northern pole star and the tip of the handle of the Little Dipper (Little Bear), can be located by extending an imaginary line through the front two stars of the asterism, Merak (β) and Dubhe (α).
Kochab / ˈ k oʊ k æ b /, Bayer designation Beta Ursae Minoris (β Ursae Minoris, abbreviated β UMi, Beta UMi), [10] [11] is the brightest star in the bowl of the Little Dipper asterism (which is part of the constellation of Ursa Minor), and only slightly fainter than Polaris, the northern pole star and brightest star in Ursa Minor.
These stars delineate the Bear's hindquarters and exaggerated tail, or alternatively, the "handle" forming the upper outline of the bear's head and neck. With its longer tail, Ursa Minor hardly appears bearlike at all, and is widely known by its pseudonym, the Little Dipper. The Northern Cross in Cygnus. [4]
Gamma Ursae Minoris (γ Ursae Minoris, abbreviated Gamma UMi, γ UMi), also named Pherkad / ˈ f ɜːr k æ d /, [11] [12] is a star in the northern constellation of Ursa Minor. Together with Beta Ursae Minoris (Kochab), it forms the end of the dipper pan of the "Little Dipper", which is an asterism forming the tail of the bear.
Comet E3 will be found between the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper in the final nights of January leading up to its closest encounter with the Earth on Feb. 1.
Delta Ursae Minoris, Latinized from δ Ursae Minoris, formally named Yildun / j ɪ l ˈ d ʌ n /, [11] is a white-hued star in the northern circumpolar constellation of Ursa Minor, forming the second star in the bear's tail. [12] It is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of 4.36. [3]