URSA

MINOR (" THE LITTLE

See also:

• BEAR
• BEAR, BLACK
• BEAR, BROWN
• BEAR, GRIZZLY
• BEAR, ISABELLINE
• BEAR, WHITE

BEAR ")  , in astronomy, a constellation of the northern hemisphere, mentioned by Thales (7th century B.C.) and by Eudoxus and Aratus . By the Greeks it was sometimes named Cynosura (Gr . Kvvbr, dog's; oupa, tail), alleging this to be one of the dogs of Callisto, who became Ursa major . The Phoenicians named it Phoenice, or the Phoenician constellation, possibly in allusion to the fact that the brightest star is a Ursae minoris or the pole-star, which being situated very close to the north pole is of incalculable service to navigators . Ptolemy catalogued 8 stars, Tycho Brahe 7 and Hevelius 12. a Ursae minoris, more generally known as the pole-star or Polaris, a star of the and magnitude, describes a circle of 2° 25' daily about the north pole; it has a 9th-magnitude companion, and is also a spectroscopic binary .