Constellation Ursa Minor sky map

    Figure: Constellation Ursa Minor

    Caption: The sky map shows the official IAU constellation Ursa Minor (AKA UMI, Little Dipper). Note the declination contours are separated by 10° angles. The celestial equator (not shown) is at declination 0° and the north celestial pole (NCP) is at declination 90°.

    Further Explication:

    1. The patch on the celestial sphere in white defines the modern constellation. Modern constellations are not just groupings of stars though they are that too.

    2. Ursa minor is circumpolar constellation as seen from mid-northern latitudes and further north.

    3. Ursa Minor's brightest star is Polaris (α UMi, declination 89° 15 arcminutes 50.8 arseconds as of 2007).

    4. Ursa Minor's second brightest star is Kochab (β UMi, declination 74° 09 arcminutes 19.8142 arcseconds).

    5. The dwarf spheriodal galaxy (dSph) Ursa Minor Dwarf is in Ursa Minor (using "in" to mean in the patch of sky that constitutes Ursa Minor). Ursa Minor Dwarf is a member of the Local Group of galaxies and is a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way.

    Credit and/or file tracking information follows to the divider line:

    Credit/Permission: © IAU, Sky & Telescope magazine (Roger Sinnott & Rick Fienberg), 2011 / Creative Commons CC BY-SA 3.0.
    Image link: Wikimedia Commons: File:Ursa Minor IAU.svg.
    Local file: local link: iau_ursa_minor.html.
    File: Constellation file: iau_ursa_minor.html.