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.
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.
The context for this is the Egyptian belief that Ra (the sun god) was given birth to by Nut (the sky goddess). Nut was pictured as a naked female spread across the sky, and identified with the Milky Way – the legs formed by the bifurcation at Deneb in Cygnus , and the head by the swelling at Gemini .
Constellations are based on asterisms, but unlike asterisms, constellations outline and today completely divide the sky and all its celestial objects into regions around their central asterisms. [ 1 ] [ 2 ] For example, the asterism known as the Big Dipper or the Plough comprises the seven brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major .
It is part of Ursa Minor, constituting the end of the Little Dipper's handle. [23] From latitudes of around 35° north, in January, Ursa Major (containing the Big Dipper) appears to the northeast, while Cassiopeia is the northwest. To the west are Pisces (above the horizon) and Aries. To the southwest Cetus is near the horizon. Up high and to ...
The Big Dipper seen from Fujian. The constellation of Ursa Major (Latin: Greater Bear) has been seen as a bear, a wagon, or a ladle.The "bear" tradition is Indo-European (appearing in Greek, as well as in Vedic India), [7] but apparently the name "bear" has parallels in Siberian or North American traditions.
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]