There are constellations in the sky, the presence of which is known to almost everyone. Among them is the constellation Ursa Minor.
The constellation Ursa Minor is located in the circumpolar region of the sky and contains 25 stars. But for most people, only seven of them are known, forming an asterism called the Small Dipper. The most popular star of the constellation is, the location of which practically coincides with the North Pole of the world. In addition to fairly bright luminaries, the constellation contains a small elliptical galaxy, nicknamed the Ursa Minor Dwarf for its size.
Location
Constellation Ursa Minor, view in the program of the planetarium Stellarium
Finding a constellation in the sky is quite simple. Its neighbors are Giraffe, Dragon and Cepheus. But the guideline for the search is usually . By drawing a line through the two extreme luminaries of its ladle, and measuring up five distances between them, you can find the North Star, which serves as the beginning of the “handle” of another, smaller “scoop”. This will be Ursa Minor. It is less bright than the Big one, but it is still clearly expressed in the sky and is easily distinguishable from other constellations. In the Northern Hemisphere, this constellation is available for observation all year round.
North Pole of the World
A pole is a point in the celestial sphere that appears stationary to an observer on Earth, while all other objects revolve around it. If it is nearby bright Star, then it can serve as a guide, since its location does not depend on the time of day. Due to the peculiarities of the Earth's motion, this point moves, but on the scale of centuries it can be considered unchanged. Currently closest to the pole is located polar Star. It is only 40 arc minutes away from it in angular terms.
polar Star
Alpha Ursa Minor is located at a distance of 434 light years from Earth and has an apparent magnitude of 1.97. But in fact, this is not one luminary, but three, united in a system. The largest of them is 4.5 times more massive than the Sun and two thousand times brighter than it. The second largest star is located at a fairly decent distance from the main one, it can even be seen in a small telescope. The mass of the star is approximately 1.39 solar. The third star is so close to the first that they could only be visually separated using the telescope "", and even then, this was done with great difficulty. It is 1.25 times heavier than the Sun.
The second brightest luminary in Ursa Minor is its beta, which has an apparent magnitude of 2.08. The star is about 126 light years away from Earth. Its name in Arabic means “Star of the North”, since for some period of time BC (approximately from 2000 to 500 years) Kokhab was closest to the pole and served as a navigational landmark for the peoples living at that time. In 2014, Korean astronomers discovered a planet near this binary star, the mass of which exceeds that of Jupiter by 6.1 times. The orbital period of this gas giant is 522.3 days.
Gamma Ursa Minor is about 480 light-years from Earth and has a visible magnitude that varies in the range of 3.04-3.09. The period of change in the brightness of the star is 3.43 hours. This third brightest object in the constellation is a hot giant with a temperature of about 8600 K. Its luminosity exceeds the solar one by 1.1 thousand times, and in size it is 15 times larger than our yellow dwarf. According to the classification, it belongs to the variable luminaries of the T Shield type.
asterisms
The constellation contains two asterisms: the Small Dipper and the Guardians of the Pole. The first is well known to modern observers. It is very similar to the Big Dipper located nearby, only less bright. It is formed by the most visible luminaries of the celestial formation. Quite a few believe that Ursa Minor is limited to these seven objects, although in fact there are 18 more stars in its composition.
The second asterism is much less known and its name goes back to ancient times, when the two luminaries that form it, called Ferkad and Kokhab, were located closer to the pole than the North Star.
meteor showers
Ursa Minor serves as a radiant, the last "starfall" of the year, which is poorly studied. Its radiant lies near the Small Dipper, meteor shower takes place from 17 to 25 December and is extremely unpredictable. Usually, on the most active days, from 10 to 20 meteors are visible in it per hour, which is of little interest to an ordinary observer. But there are unpredictable bursts of activity, when their number exceeds a hundred. Such "fruitful" meteors were 1988, 1994, 2000, 2006 and especially 1945 and 1986. This is the northernmost of these streams - it owes its birth to the short-period comet Tuttle.
In addition to the main stars, the galaxies located in Ursa Minor are of interest. The already mentioned Dwarf, which is a satellite Milky Way, was discovered in 1954. This is a fairly old galaxy, at least ten billion years old. It is too small to see if it contains gas, dust, or any star formation processes. It is sometimes called Polarissima because of its location close to the Earth's axis of rotation.
In addition, the galaxies NGC 6217 and NGC 5832 are in the constellation. All of the listed objects are very small on a cosmic scale, and therefore it is impossible to observe them without good optical equipment.
constellation history
Looking up, on cloudless nights it is easy to find a large bucket of the Big Dipper, but the problem of how to find the Little Dipper turns out to be unsolvable for many: its stars are rather dim, and the bright light street lamps and advertising structures, interior lighting of residential premises and other light sources that are turned on at night in the city interfere with the natural light environment of nature.
The night sky is poorly visible through the city illumination, so it is best to enjoy the beauty of the stars in an open space where neither buildings nor artificial lighting interfere.
On a full moon, even the light of the moon can interfere, interrupting the modest stars of the desired constellation with its brightness. The ideal place and time for looking at the stars in the sky would be a moonless night in the steppe in a place located in the northern hemisphere of our planet.
Although the constellation Ursa Minor is small and its components are not too bright, its location in the sky near the north celestial pole is remarkable. It consists of 25 stars, large enough to be seen on a clear moonless night without aids.
Its configuration includes the North Star, which is almost exactly located at the north pole of the world and therefore convenient for orientation along the cardinal points. Due to the slow shift of the earth's axis, the situation will change over time and another star will indicate the northern direction, but in the next 1200 years, Ursa Minor can be safely used as a guide by finding the tip of the handle of her ladle.
Despite the 25 stars in this constellation, they recognize it by the seven largest of them, forming a memorable figure in the sky, similar to a bucket, at the end of the handle of which is the polar star. It is visible on Russian territory all year round and is one of the figures that serve as excellent reference points for the initial study of the starry sky.
Small Bucket Search Landmarks
To understand how to find Ursa Minor, you need:
- know what the desired configuration looks like;
- understand that the composition of the small bucket includes only 3 more or less bright stars, and therefore a certain skill is needed;
- know the landmarks next to which the necessary stars are located in the sky.
The easiest way to start your search is with the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor - Polaris.
The reference point here will be the bucket of the Big Dipper. Finding it is not difficult even for a beginner.
And then it all depends on the eye:
- Find a big bucket: in winter and autumn, it descends to the horizon in the north, in summer they look for it in the west, where it hangs with its handle up, and in spring it is found in the east standing vertically with its handle down.
- Through the 2 extreme stars that form the side wall of the dipper (a and ß Ursa Major), mentally draw a line and extend it upwards in relation to the bowl of the dipper.
- Mentally put aside on this line 5 times the distance between a and ß, taken as a basis.
- In the area calculated in the sky, find a star of approximately the same brightness. This will be Polar, marking the end of the handle of the Ursa Minor bucket. The small bucket itself will stretch towards the Big Dipper, but its handle will bend in the opposite direction.
In the conditions of an urban sky illuminated by extraneous light sources, it is easy to find only three bucket stars, one of which is Polar.
The chance to detect the rest is much less, and sometimes due to excessive ambient illumination, they are not visible at all. Therefore, without sufficient experience, it is difficult to immediately recognize the desired group of stars. But after several trainings, the search will take place without difficulty, especially since the handle of the ladle is attached like a nail in the sky by the North Star to the point around which it, as if on a leash, rotates.
City dwellers have stopped looking at the starry sky, which is hard to see due to the lighting of the streets and surrounding high-rise buildings. But looking at the star dome calms thoughts and emotions.
Focusing on the search for Ursa Minor, you can turn away from the bustle of the work week and think about the beauty of other worlds located so far away that the light from them has not yet reached our planet.
(lat. Ursa Minor) is a circumpolar constellation in the northern hemisphere of the sky. It occupies an area of 255.9 square degrees in the sky and contains 40 stars visible to the naked eye.
Currently located in Ursa Minor North Pole the world, at a distance of about 1 ° from the North Star. Probably, the constellation was singled out by the Phoenicians as useful for navigation.
click on the image to enlarge it
Stars
The brightest stars in the constellation:
- Polaris (αUMi). Star magnitude 2.02m.
- Cohab (β UMi). Apparent stellar magnitude 2.08m. Between about 2000 B.C. e. to 500 AD e. Kokhab was the brightest star closest to the North Pole of the world and played the role of the polar star, which is reflected in its Arabic name. Kohab el Shemali(Star of the North).
- Ferkad (γ UMi). Star magnitude 3.05m.
asterisms
Asterism Small Bucket forms a characteristic memorable figure in the sky. Includes seven stars - α (Polar), β (Kochab), γ (Ferkad), δ, ε, ζ and η Ursa Minor. The Small Dipper resembles the shape of the asterism Big Dipper, located not far in the constellation Ursa Major.
A pair of extreme stars of the Bucket (Kokhab and Ferkad) represent an asterism Guardians of the Pole.
Search in the sky
The constellation is visible all year round. To find the North Star (α Ursa Minor), you need to mentally continue the segment between Merak (β Ursa Major) and Dubhe (α Ursa Major) to a distance 5 times its length.
Story
According to Gigin, this constellation was introduced into ancient astronomy by Thales of Miletus, included in the catalog starry sky Almagest.
The legend of the birth of Zeus is also associated with Ursa Minor. In order to save her son from his father Cronos, who ate his children, the goddess Rhea took Zeus to the top of Mount Ida, to a sacred cave, and left it to the care of the nymphs and their mother Melissa (or two nymphs Melissa and Kinosura). In gratitude, Zeus later raised Melissa to heaven in the form of the Big and Kinosur in the form of Ursa Minor; on old maps Ursa Minor (or only the North Star) is sometimes referred to as Kinosura (" dog tail"). Note that in the early versions of the myth, Melissa and Kinosura are bears, later transformed into nymphs.
The Phoenicians, the best navigators of early antiquity, used the constellation for navigation purposes, in contrast to the Greeks, who navigated by Ursa Major, which is obviously less accurate.
The peoples of Kazakhstan called the Polar Star "an iron nail" ( Temir-Kazyk), driven into the sky, and in the rest of the stars of Ursa Minor they saw a lasso tied to this nail, put on the Horse's neck (the constellation Ursa Major). The Arabs took the stars of Ursa Minor for horsemen, and the Persians saw in it the Seven Fruits of the Date Palm.
Constellation Ursa Minor from the Atlas "Uranographia" by Jan Hevelius (1690)
click on the image to enlarge it
Who does not know where the constellation Ursa Minor or, he never looked at the sky in the dark. He will not be able to understand at night where the north is, and where the south is. The North Star is less than 1° from the North Pole of the World. And in the sky you can find it in many ways: I’m sure that in my school years, parents or teachers showed where it was. And if not, it's okay, let's get acquainted.
Legend and history
The ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician Thales of Miletus invented and added the constellation Ursa Minor to Claudius Ptolemy's Almagest catalog of the starry sky.
There are many legends associated with Ursa Minor. For example, one of them is associated with the birth of Zeus. The goddess Rhea took her newborn son to the top of Mount Ida and left it there in the care of the nymphs (Kinosura) and their mother Melissa. She did this, fleeing from Father Kron, who ate his children. Having matured, Zeus raised Melissa to heaven in the form of Ursa Major, and Kinosura - Minor. By the way, on ancient maps, the North Star was called Kinosura, which means "dog's tail."
Other sources (according to Arat) in ancient times called the constellation the "Lesser Chariot" (Ursa Major - "Great Chariot").
The Arabs perceived Ursa Minor as riders. Persians - seven fruits of the date palm.
The Romans depicted in the form of a Spartan dog.
The Indians associated this area of the sky with a monkey.
IN Ancient Babylon and even saw a leopard. And so on. Each culture and civilization tried to consider something subject to it.
Characteristics
The most interesting objects to observe in the constellation Ursa Minor
1 Spiral Galaxy NGC 6217
NGC 6217- barred spiral galaxy (). The apparent stellar magnitude is only 11 m , and the angular dimensions of the galaxy are 3.0′ × 2.5′. At the end of the 18th century (in 1797) it was discovered by the English astronomer William Herschel.
Unfortunately, in order to distinguish the "sleeves" of the galaxy, a powerful telescope with an aperture of 200 millimeters or more is required. On the Internet I found a good amateur picture of the galaxy NGC 6217:
In fact, if you look more closely, you can clearly distinguish the spiral irregularities and a very saturated core of the galaxy. The closest bright star to the galaxy is ζUMi(4.3 m), but it is unlikely that you will lay the route from it. In the immediate vicinity of the desired deep-sky object, there is a characteristic small cluster of stars, visible even in the finder - they will serve as an excellent guide.
2. Polaris (αUMi)
First of all, the North Star (α UMI) is a star that consists of and a dwarf, spectral class F. The brightness of the system is 2.02 m. The distance to the Sun is 320 light years, somewhere you can find the number 435.
In amateur telescopes, it will not be possible to distinguish the second component of the star. Too close it is located, plus the main component is bright. The Cepheid has a pulsation period of slightly more than 4 days, while the brightness amplitude changes by 0.12 m.
It is not difficult to find the North Star: one of the options is to set aside five distances in the sky between the two stars of the bucket (Dubhe and Merak) Ursa Major in the direction opposite to the bottom of the bucket. If it didn’t work out before, be sure to practice and remember.
There are quite a few different constellations. Some of them are known to all. Only a small part of people know about others. But there is a cluster of night luminaries, which is completely understandable to everyone. This article will look at how Ursa Major and Malaya are located. Constellations are characterized by a huge number of legends. And some of them will also be told. We should also talk about the most recognizable and bright luminaries that can be seen in this rather popular cluster.
Starry sky, Ursa Major, Ursa Minor, Andromeda, Southern Cross… What could be more beautiful and majestic? Millions of stars shine and sparkle, luring inquiring minds to themselves. Man has always found his place in the Universe, wondering how the world works, where his place is in it, whether he was created by the gods or he himself is a divine entity. Sitting by the fire at night and looking into the distant sky, people learned one simple truth - the stars are not ugly scattered across the sky. They have their legal place.
Every night the stars remained the same, in the same place. Today, any adult knows that the stars are located at different distances from the earth. But, looking at the sky, we cannot tell which luminaries are located further and which are closer. Our ancestors could distinguish them only by the brightness of the glow. They singled out a small fraction of the brightest luminaries, formed a group of stars into characteristic figures, calling them constellations. In modern astrology, 88 constellations are distinguished in the starry sky. Our ancestors knew no more than 50.
The constellations were called differently, associating them with the names of objects (Libra, Southern Cross, Triangle). The luminaries were given the names of heroes Greek myths(Andromeda, Perseus Cassiopeia), The stars bore the names of real or non-existent animals (Leo, Dragon, Ursa Major and Ursa Minor). In ancient times, people fully showed their imagination, approaching the issue of naming celestial bodies thoroughly. And there is nothing strange in the fact that the names have not changed to this day.
Stars in the Bucket Cluster
The constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the starry sky are rightfully considered the most famous and recognizable of the clusters of stars in the northern hemisphere. As we know from youth, the stars of the Big Dipper make up a bucket in the sky - the luminaries of a recognizable shape and with a well-established name. Such a cluster of nocturnal, celestial bodies rightfully has the third place in terms of its size. In the first positions are such constellations as Virgo and Hydra. In total, there are 125 stars in the Big Dipper. All of them can be seen with the naked eye. The bucket forms seven of the brightest stars. Each of them has its own name.
Let's turn our attention to the constellation Ursa Major. The world of space without it is already impossible to imagine. The stars in this cluster include:
Dubhe means "bear" in translation. This is the brightest star in Ursa Major. Merak is the second brightest star. It translates as "loin". Fekda - in translation means "thigh". Megrets - translates as "the beginning of the tail." Aliot means "fat tail" in translation. Mizar - translates as "loincloth". Benetnash - literally translated as "the leader of the mourners."
This is only a part of the stars that make up the known cluster.
The movement of the constellation in the sky
Finding the constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor in the sky is quite simple. It is best seen in March and April. On fresh spring nights, we can find the Huge Bear directly overhead. The luminaries are high in the sky. However, after the first half of April, the cluster of celestial bodies retreats to the west. During the summer months, the constellation moves slowly to the northwest. And at the end of August you can see the bucket very low in the north. It will remain there until the winter. During the winter period, Ursa Major will again rise above the horizon, starting anew its movement from north to northeast.
Changing the position of the stars depending on the time of day
Concentrate on how the location of the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor changes throughout the day. For example, in February, at night, we see a bucket handle down, located in the northeast, and in the morning the constellation will move to the northwest. The handle will swing up.
It is curious that the five stars inside the bucket form one group and move separately from the other two stars. Dubhe and Benetnash are slowly leaving in the opposite direction from the other five luminaries. It follows that in the near future the bucket will take on a completely different look. But we will not see this, since a significant change will become noticeable in about a hundred thousand years.
The secret of the stars Mizar and Alcor
In the cluster of luminaries Ursa Major there is a fascinating star couple - Mizar and Alcor. Why is she fascinating? In ancient times, these two stars were used to test the sharpness of human vision. Mizar is a medium-sized star, in the bucket of Ursa Major. Next to it is the barely distinguishable star Alcor. A person with good eyesight will see these two stars without any problems, and vice versa, a person with poor eyesight will not distinguish 2 luminaries in the sky. They will appear to him as one bright point in the sky. But these two stars are fraught with a couple more amazing mysteries.
The naked eye does not see the features inherent in them. If you point a telescope at Mizar, you can see two stars instead of one. They were conditionally designated Mizar A and Mizar B. But that's not all. Spectral analysis revealed that Mizar A consists of 2 stars, and Mizar B consists of three. Unfortunately, these night luminaries are so far from the earth that no optical devices are able to reach them in order to fully reveal the secret.
Stars from the Ursa Minor Cluster
Two stars in the wall of the bucket are also called Pointers. Merak and Dubhe got this name because, having drawn a straight line through them, we rest against the polar star from the constellation Ursa Minor. This cluster of night luminaries is also called circumpolar. The list of stars in the constellation Ursa Minor contains 25 names. They can be seen with the naked eye. It is necessary to single out those that are popular. In addition, they are the brightest.
Star Kokhab. In the period from 3000 BC to 600 AD, this star, which contains the constellation Ursa Minor, acted as a guide for sailors. The polar star indicates the direction of the North Pole. Ferkad and Yildun are also well-known luminaries of the cluster.
For a very long time there was no common name
The constellation Ursa Minor is shaped like a bucket - almost like the Big Dipper. The Phoenicians, one of the best navigators of ancient times, used a similar cluster of stars for navigational purposes. But the Greek sailors were more guided by the Big Dipper. The Arabs saw a rider in Ursa Minor, the Redskins saw a monkey that clings to the center of the world with its tail and circles around it. As we see, there was no generally accepted meaning and name for a long time, and any nationality saw something of its own in the starry sky, close and easily explained. What else can the constellation Ursa Major tell about itself?
Constellation legends. Star of Dubhe
There are a huge number of legends and tales about the cluster of luminaries Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
The following belief goes about the brightest star Dubhe from the constellation Ursa Major. The daughter of King Lycaon, the beautiful Callisto was one of the huntresses of the goddess Artemis. The all-powerful Zeus fell in love with Callisto, and she gave birth to a boy, Arkas. For this, the jealous wife of Zeus Hera turned Callisto into a bear. When Arkas grew up and became a hunter, he attacked the trail of a bear and was already preparing to hit the animal with an arrow. Zeus, seeing what was happening, did not allow the murder. Specifically, he turned Arkas into a smaller bear. The ruler of heaven placed them in the firmament so that mother and son would always remain together.
The legend of a small cluster of stars
There is a legend of the constellation Ursa Minor. It looks like this. Rescuing her son Zeus from his father, the Greek god Kronos, who was famous for devouring his babies, his wife Rhea stole a small child and took it to the caves. In addition to the goat, the baby was fed by two nymphs - Melissa and Helis. For this they were awarded. Zeus, when he became the ruler of the heavens, turned them into bears and placed them in the sky.
The legend of the appearance of the constellation according to storytellers from Greenland
In distant Greenland there is also a legend in which the constellation Ursa Major appears. The mythology and history of this cluster is quite popular. But one story has gained the greatest popularity among the Eskimos, which is told in full by everyone. It has even been suggested that this legend is not fiction, but the purest truth. In a snowy house, on the very edge of Greenland, lived the majestic hunter Eriulok. He lived in a hut alone, as he was arrogant, considering himself the best in his field. Therefore, he did not want to communicate with his other compatriots. For many years in a row he went to sea and always returned with rich booty. In his house there was always a lot of food, seal oil, and the walls of his dwelling were decorated with the best skins of walruses, seals and seals. Eriulok was rich, well-fed, but lonely. And loneliness eventually began to burden the majestic hunter. He tried to make friends with his fellow Eskimos, but they did not want to deal with an arrogant relative. Apparently, he offended them greatly at the time.
In desperation, Eriulok went to Arctic Ocean and called the mistress of the sea depths, the goddess Arnarkuachssak. He told her about himself and his failure. The goddess promised to help, but in return, Eriulok had to bring her a ladle with magical berries that would restore youth to the goddess. The hunter agreed and went to a distant island, found a cave guarded by a bear. After a long torment, he put the forest animal to sleep and stole a ladle of berries. The goddess did not deceive the hunter and gave him a wife, and in return received wonderful berries. After all the adventures, Eriulok got married and became the father of a huge family, to the envy of all the neighbors in the area. As for the goddess, she ate all the berries, rejuvenated by a couple of hundred centuries, and joyfully threw an empty bucket into the sky, where he, clinging to something, remained hanging.
A touching story of good and evil
There is also one extraordinarily touching legend in which the constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor are affected. In the distant, distant times, among the hills and ravines, there was an ordinary village. A large family lived in this settlement, and their daughter Aina grew up in it. There was no one kinder than this girl in the district. One morning, on the road leading to the village, a dark cart appeared. Black horses were in harness. A man was sitting on the cart, and his clothes were dark in color. He smiled broadly, had fun and laughed from time to time. There was a dark cage on the cart, in which, chained, there was a snow-white bear cub. Big tears rolled down from the animal's eyes. Many inhabitants of the village began to resent: isn't it a shame for such a big dark man to keep a small snow-white bear cub on a chain, torturing and mocking him. Although people were indignant, the matter did not go further than words.
And only when the cart came up to the house where Aina lived, the good girl stopped her. Aina asked to let the bear cub go. The stranger laughed and said that he would let go if someone would give the bear cub their eyes. None of the inhabitants thought to do this, except for Aina. The black man agreed to let the bear cub go in exchange for the girl's eyes. And Aina lost her sight. The snow-white bear cub came out of the cell and the tears from his eyes stopped flowing. The cart, together with the horses and the black man, melted into the air, and the snow-white bear cub remained in its place. He approached Aina, who was crying, gave her the rope tied to his collar, and led the girl through the fields and meadows. The inhabitants of the village, watching them, saw how the snow-white bear cub turns into a Huge Bear, and Aina turns into a small snow-white bear cub, and together they go into the sky. Since that time, people have seen them walking together across the firmament. They are always in the sky and remind people of good and evil. This instructive legend is famous for the constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Due to progress, the halo of mystery has disappeared
Both in ancient times and at the present time, the constellations help us navigate in space. Travelers and sailors can find out the time by the brightness and location of the constellations, find the direction of movement, etc. Now we rarely sit by the fire, less often look at the mysterious star-studded sky, and we no longer compose legends about the Great and Little Ursa, Cassiopeia, Hounds. Few people can immediately show the constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. We know from the lessons of astronomy that the stars are very far away, and this is in most of the planet, similar to our Sun.
The development of optical telescopes led to a number of discoveries about which our ancestors did not understand anything. What can I say, a man was even able to visit the moon, take samples of lunar soil and successfully return back. Science has blown away that veil of obscurity and mystery, which for many centuries covered the heavenly bodies. And all the same, we stealthily look into the sky, looking for one or another constellation, and we see in them not cold stars, but a snow-white Bear cub or a stern Leo or Cancer crawling across the heavenly surface. Therefore, many people like to admire the night sky clear of clouds, on which a variety of luminaries, their combinations together and clusters are clearly visible.
Conclusion
In this review, the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor were considered. It is easy to find them in the sky. And, most likely, everyone at one time tried to do this. And some even now, looking at the sky at night, are trying to determine the location of the bucket.
We hope that this review told you a lot about this well-known cluster: how the constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor looks, what stars are included in it, what legends it is characterized by, etc.
