Constellation of the Little Dipper - decoration of the northern sky

The Constellation of the Little Ursa contains only twenty-five stars that can be seen with the naked eye. It does not have very bright galaxies or nebulae, it does not contain any clusters. The main distinguishing feature of the constellation of the Little Bear is not the presence of such things, but the fact that it can be easily seen at any time of the year.

In the astrology of the Sumerians, Assyrians and Babylonians, it was called "The Scale of Libra Anu", or "Heavenly weights". In Greek mythology, the Little Bear is a constellation associated with Callisto's nymph. According to the Greek scholar Ptolemy, his stars in their "impact" are similar to Venus and to some extent Saturn.

Speaking about the Greek myths, we can not fail to mention the connection of such a celestial element as the constellation of the Little Bear, and the legend of the birth of the god Zeus. Goddess-Earth Gaia, saving her son from his father Kronos, who devoured his own children, carried away little Zeus to Mount Ida. There, in the sacred cave, Gaea left him in the care of the nymphs Melissa and Kinosure. In gratitude for this, becoming the Supreme God and the Olympian, Thunderer has lifted Melissa to the sky in the form of the Big Dipper, and Kinosuru - in the form of Malaya. On ancient Greek maps, the Little Bear is called the KinoSura.

The constellation of the Little Bear is connected with its "big brother" - the Big Dipper. They are known for interesting stellar drawings (so-called buckets). It was the Big and Small Bucket used from time to time in navigation. In the southern latitudes the north pole is quite strongly "inclined". Therefore the North Star, which marks the tail tip of the Little Dipper, will be very low, right near the horizon line.

On the excellent mosaic of such a heavenly miracle as the constellation of the Little Ursa, several bright stars dominate - the Kochab (also called the Bear Dipper), which is visible from the right side, and the Polaris on the left, at the tip of the Little Bucket, pointing to the north pole.

Another interesting attraction can be called asterism Little Hanger. This is a kind of reduced copy of another asterism called simply the Hanger (located in the constellation Chanterelle). Another asterism of this constellation can be called the Diamond Ring. The stars form something like a ring around the North Star.

The constellation of the Little Ursa and its nebula are hundreds of light-years away from our planet Earth. The same distance - and to the polar star of the north pole of the world. Thin clouds of gas and dust are illuminated at once by all the stars in our Galaxy, and not by any particular single star.

This constellation is rather small, it does not have emission huge nebulae or dusty dark clouds, since this constellation is located on the outskirts of the Milky Way, aside from most others. Nevertheless, very thin veil-like gas-dust accumulations and nebulae penetrate it. It is very difficult to see them, and, unfortunately, it is almost impossible to obtain a qualitative picture of the starry sky with the image of these clusters.