If you look back centuries, then among the many asterisks, the constellation Ursa Minor is quite important . All facts indicate that ancient navigation relied on the position of stars in it. Although the Phoenicians sometimes used the Ursa Major for orientation, despite its great brightness, it gave significant inaccuracies in determining the path.
How to find Ursa Minor on Bolshaya?
Obviously, most of you will easily find Ursa Major. She is quite expressive and bright. Knowing that both constellations are nearby, it will undoubtedly become clear how to find Ursa Minor by Ursa Major. To do this, you will need to mentally connect the last two stars of the Ursa Major: from Merac (Ξ² Ursa Major) to Dubha (Ξ± Ursa Major)), continuing this line upward at a distance 5 times the distance between them. This is how you discover Alpha (the Polar Star) of Ursa Minor constellation.
Before you wonder how to find the constellation Ursa Minor, knowing only the location of the Polar, you need to understand what shape the luminaries form, and how the asterisk is located relative to the Big Bucket.
For a complete understanding: according to their names, they are quite similar and resemble a bucket in shape. As for the location, Ursa Minor is practically in an inverted position relative to the Big Bucket.
Knowledge is power
Examine the star map before starting the search, this will facilitate the search for the asterisk. Subsequently, you will verify the ease of detection of the desired star group. And if someone asks you how to find Ursa Minor by Ursa Major, with full knowledge of the matter, you can clearly explain how to find it.
Well, now we know how to find the constellation Ursa Minor. Let's talk about the North Star, thanks to which travelers and seafarers of the past made a long and difficult journey. Although this is not the brightest star in the night sky, but it is located closer to the northern point of the world, the error does not exceed 1 Β°. After only 145 years, the position error will exceed one degree.
Only after 3200, Alderamin (alpha of Cepheus) will become a star as close to the northern point of the world.
"Twists" the bear by the tail on the earth's axis
The North Star does not change its position, despite the Earthβs daily rotation around its own axis and annual orbit around the Sun. The brightness of the guiding star is variable and changes in intensity with a frequency of 4 days, within 2.02 Β± 2%. Previously, the luminosity amplitude was higher, today it has stabilized. The total brightness of the North Star is constantly growing and over the past hundred years has increased by almost 15%.
The nature of the pulsation is associated with the property of the luminary; this is how the Cepheids behave. The guiding star is one of the brightest Cepheids in the night sky.
Ursa Minor occupies an area of ββabout 255.9 square degrees in the sky. Its closest neighbors are Dragon, Cepheus.
In the asterisk, as already mentioned, is located, the North Pole of the World is a
point in the celestial sphere where all objects revolve around it. The first mention in historical sources was made by the Greek astrologer Ptolemy in the 2nd century.
Ursa Minor and its stars
The constellation of the Small Dipper includes seven bright objects. Of all the stars of Ursa Minor, only three of the brightest are clearly visible. These are Ferkhad and Kokhab, forming the wall of the Bucket, and crown the handle of the constellation Polar Star. The last two stars are located above the tail of Ursa Major.
The Small Bucket is slightly different from other constellations. It does not change the location in the sky, like Ursa Major and most other asterisk that are seasonal. They can be observed in a certain season, and they are mobile in the sky for a year. Ursa Minor also changes its location, revolving around its Alpha.
Alpha and Omega of the Ursa Minor Constellation in the Northern Hemisphere
Alpha (North Star) Ursa Minor is located at a distance of 431 light years from Earth . With a visible value of 2.02. As it became known, this is not one, but three stars, united in a single system. The brightest among them, almost 2 thousand times greater than the brightness of the Sun. The second star of Ursa Minor has a mass equal to 1.39 solar.
It can be observed with a small telescope. The third star of Alpha is 1.25 times more massive than our Sun and is located quite densely to the first. With the Hubble telescope, it became possible to consider it as a separate star.
Cohab is an orange giant translated from the Arabic Star of the North. The second brightest star, it is beta, in the constellation of the Small Bucket with a magnitude of 2.8 and is 126 light-years distant from Earth.
Ferkhad - gamma Ursa Minor, with a magnitude of 3.6, the distance to it is 480 light years. This object is considered to be a hot giant with a temperature of 8600 K and refers to a variable type of stars.
The Small Bucket Delta, or Yildun, is a white dwarf that is located 183 light years away.
Zeta is another dwarf, white and located at a distance of 380 light years from Earth. The intensity of its glow is 200 times higher than that of the Sun. He is on the path of formation into a giant star.
The North Star won't let you down.
It may not be possible to remember all this, but still your knowledge has become more extensive. And if you suddenly get lost in the forest, and there is no mobile connection, try to remember how to find Ursa Minor by Ursa Major. You will certainly find the North Star and find out in what direction the north is.
The sky is full of secrets and unknown secrets
Even without a telescope, just turning your eyes to the night luminaries, you will see how diverse our large universe is.
The constellation Ursa Minor is just a small visible part of it. The boundaries and dimensions of the universe we are seeing today are defined. These are truly gigantic quantities, its length is about 14 billion light years.
But is this the universe in reality? This thought excites the minds of great scientists. They hypothesize, research, argue, and try to understand if this is so. Some experts are of the opinion that the Universe is infinite, while others - that the Multiverse exists.
And it may well turn out that in one of them there is the same planet, country and copy of you. Everything is possible, science constantly pushes the curtain of the unknown and hidden from our eyes, proving invariably: what seems like science fiction today, becomes reality tomorrow.