The American Association of Amateur Astronomers
The Constellation Ursa Minor - The
Small Bear
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Mythology: URSA MAJOR & MINOR - The Greater & Lesser Bears
Callisto was the splendid Princess of Arcadia who captured Zeus' heart, and gave birth to his son, Arcas. Seething with jealousy, the Queen of Gods, Hera, unleashed her mighty wrath and transformed Callisto into a bear, doomed to prowl the forests forever. Years later, while Arcas was out hunting, the vengeful Hera brought Callisto before the young man as prey. While Arcas unknowingly prepared to kill his mother, Zeus swiftly stepped between them and sent Callisto soaring into the heavens to become Ursa Major, The Greater Bear. Later, the King of the Gods placed Arcas in the sky to be forever known as Ursa Minor, The Lesser Bear, reuniting mother and son for all time. Ursa Major, also called the Big Dipper, is the best known constellation in the northern sky.
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URSA MINOR
Ursa Minor is the baby brother of Ursa Major. Ursa Minor is most important as
the constellation which contains Polaris, the North Star. Otherwise, this is a
relatively uninteresting constellation for the amateur astronomer, as it contain
no Messier objects, or other objects bright enough to be important to most
amateur observers. Furthermore, its extreme northern location make it difficult
for many telescopes to navigate, especially Newtonians, due to the design of the
German Equatorial mount.
Polaris, however, is very useful to Northern Hemisphere observers, since,
being the north star, it is a point of reference for polar aligning a telescope.
For information on this subject, see the
FAQ on How
to Polar Align an Equatorially Mounted Telescope.
Article © Copyright Ed Flaspoehler
Photos © Copyright Edward P. Flaspoehler, Jr.
There are no Messier Objects in Ursa Minor
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EDITOR: Edward P. Flaspoehler, Jr.
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