The Little Dipper Facts: Know All About The Ursa Minor Constellation

Looking at the stars in a dark night sky is perhaps one of the most peaceful things to do after an exhausting day.

The nothingness and infinity of the sky and the brightly shining stars have always been a matter of great fascination for people. Many stars are known to be part of different constellations, compelling humans to keep looking for a new constellation to identify different stars.

In order to find the Little Dipper in the Ursa Minor constellation, you must first locate the Big Dipper. The Big Dipper features a handle comprising three stars and a bowl featuring four stars.

Dubhe and Merak are two bright stars that point towards Polaris and the Little Dipper. They are hence also known as 'pointer stars'. Little Dipper is located on the upper-right side of the Big Dipper.

Read on to know more about Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, and other important constellations in the night sky.

The Little Dipper Constellation’s Other Names

A constellation is a collection of stars with a name and a form in the sky that mimics a certain shape. These stars are a long way away from our planet.

They have no resemblance to one another. Some stars in a constellation are close together, while others are far apart. However, if you used your imagination and drew lines in the sky between the stars like a dot-to-dot jigsaw, the picture would resemble an object, animal, or human.

Depending on what individuals thought they saw, many cultures around the world have given constellations different names and numbers over time. There are currently 88 constellations that have been officially recognized.

Ursa Minor is one of the 88 known constellations, is a constellation in the Northern Sky whose other name is also the Little Bear. The Little Dipper constellation features seven stars.

It is present in the Ursa Major constellation, the 56th most prominent constellation, with a surface area spanning beyond 256 square degrees and known as the Great Bear. Asterism is frequently mistaken for the constellation as a whole, however, it is important to remember that neither it is and nor can ever be a constellation.

The Little Dipper has been used as a navigational aid for centuries. This constellation was discovered in 600 BC by Thales of Miletus. It was created from the remains of a former constellation known as Draco, the Celestial Dragon. Ursa Minor was once known as the Dog's Tailor Cynosura before being renamed Ursa Minor.

Some of its other famous names are 'The Big Dipper', 'The Wagon', 'Charles' Wain', 'The Plough' among other titles.

The Little Dipper Galaxy Location

The Ursa Major constellation, which is the 56th biggest in the sky, includes the Little Dipper. This constellation is visible between +90o and -10o and is positioned in the Northern Hemisphere's third quadrant (NQ3).

Because the brightness of the stars in the Little Dipper ranges from second to the fifth magnitude, depending on the quality of your night sky, it may be difficult to spot on a dark night and unclear sky.

Even though it was still many degrees away from the celestial pole, Alpha Ursae Minoris has been used as the North star since the medieval period. It is the most bright star in our solar system among the other seven bright stars. The seven bright stars are the brightest stars in the solar system.

The North Star, also known as the Pole Star, is a star that lies almost directly above the North Celestial Pole and marks the true north direction. As a result, Polaris is a well-known navigational aid as it is the brightest star in Ursa Minor.

There are many star patterns in space. There are seven main stars in this dipper asterism and the dipper point of the Great Bear. And it is the main star of the Northern Hemisphere.

The constellation Ursa Major as well as the Little Dipper, can be best seen at 9:00 p.m. in June, although even then, a clear sky free from any type of pollution is required.

On such days when the sky is unclear and dark, even if you can't see the Little Dipper, you can find Polaris by looking at the stars in the Big Dipper.

Ursa Minor is popularly addressed as the Little Beara and is a Northern Sky constellation. The Little Bear's tail, resembling the Great Bear's tail, can be regarded as a dipper's handle, hence the North American appellation called the Little Dipper which has seven stars in its bowl, four in the bowl of its mate, the Big Dipper.

It was one of Ptolemy's 48 constellations of the second century, and it is now one of the 80+ contemporary constellations.

The Little Dipper Bordering Constellations

As Polaris is the North Pole star, Ursa Minor has long been useful in navigation, especially by seamen. It is also termed the North star.

The North Star is also known to help travelers with directions. It helps in directing the travelers by showing the direction of the North Pole. It was discovered by a Greek Astronomer and ancient Greek Sailors.

The Little Dipper is surrounded by three constellations Camelopardalis, Cepheus, and Draco.

The Little Dipper Shape Features

Ursa Minor (Latin for 'small bear') is the name given to the Little Bear constellation by astronomers.  The Little Bear's tail, like the Great Bear's, can be regarded as a ladle handle, hence the North American appellation, Little Dipper: seven stars in its bowl, four in the bowl of its mate, the Big Dipper.

The Little Dipper almost entirely represents Ursa Minor. The dipper's cup serves as the Little Bear's flank, while the handle serves as its tail.

Three of its stars, Polaris, Yildun, and Urodelus, are known as the dipper's 'handle', while the other four, Kochab, Pherkad, Anwar al Farkadain, and Akhfa al Farkadain, are known as the 'bowl' or 'body'. The Little Bear's celestial tail is formed by 'the handle' of the Little Dipper constellation.

On the other hand 'the bowl' is part of its side of the Ursa Minor constellation.

The Little Dipper asterism is made up of seven stars. Some of them are:

Being a multiple-star system, Polaris features one main star, two minor companion stars, and two external stars. The main component of the supergiant star is the F7 yellow supergiant.

The mass of this star is pegged at around 4.5 times of the Earth's Sun. The other two main sequence stars that accompany the main star are two objects of the class F3 and F6.

The North Star, also known as the Pole Star, is a star that lies almost directly above the North Celestial Pole and marks the true north direction. As a result, Polaris is a well-known navigational aid.

Yildun, 183 light-years from Earth, is a white main sequence dwarf with the spectral class A1V. It has a magnification of 4.35.

Gamma Ursae Minoris is a star having a perceived magnitude of 3.05 and a distance of 487 light-years. It has the star classification A3 lab, indicating that it is a yellow-white supergiant of intermediate brightness. It's a rapidly rotating star.

Beta Ursae Minoris is a huge star that is located at a distance of around 131 light-years from the solar system. The visual magnitude of the star is estimated at 2.08. It is the most bright star in the Little Dipper's bowl.