Ursa Minor
Constellation | |
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Abbreviation | UMi[1] |
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Genitive | Ursae Minoris[1] |
Pronunciation | /ˌɜːrsə ˈmaɪnər/, genitive /ˌɜːrsiː mᵻˈnɒrᵻs/ |
Symbolism | the Little Bear[1] |
Right ascension | 08h 41.4m to 22h 54.0m[1] |
Declination | 65.40° to 90°[1] |
Family | Ursa Major |
Quadrant | NQ3 |
Area | 256 sq. deg. (56th) |
Main stars | 7 |
Bayer/Flamsteed stars |
23 |
Stars with planets | 4 |
Stars brighter than 3.00m | 3 |
Stars within 10.00 pc (32.62 ly) | 0 |
Brightest star | Polaris[2] (1.97m) |
Nearest star | UU UMi (42.60 ly, 13.06 pc) |
Messier objects | 0 |
Meteor showers | Ursids |
Bordering constellations |
Draco Camelopardalis Cepheus |
Visible at latitudes between +90° and −10°. Best visible at 21:00 (9 p.m.) during the month of June[2]. |
Ursa Minor (Latin: "lesser-Bear", contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation in the Northern Sky. Like the Great Bear, the tail of the Little Bear may also be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the North American name, Little Dipper: seven stars with four in its bowl like its partner the Big Dipper. It was one of the 48 constellations listed by the 2nd-century astronomer Ptolemy, and remains one of the 88 modern constellations. Ursa Minor has traditionally been important for navigation, particularly by mariners, because of Polaris being the North Star.
Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation, is a yellow-white supergiant and the brightest Cepheid variable star in the night sky, ranging from an apparent magnitude of 1.97 to 2.00. Beta Ursae Minoris, also known as Kochab, is an aging star that has swollen and cooled to become an orange giant with an apparent magnitude of 2.08, only slightly fainter than Polaris. Kochab and magnitude 3 Gamma Ursae Minoris have been called the "guardians of the pole star".[3] Planets have been detected orbiting four of the stars, including Kochab. The constellation also contains an isolated neutron star—Calvera—and H1504+65, the hottest white dwarf yet discovered, with a surface temperature of 200,000 K.
Contents
History and mythology[edit]
![](http://web.archive.org./web/20161210224614im_/https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Sidney_Hall_-_Urania%27s_Mirror_-_Draco_and_Ursa_Minor.jpg/300px-Sidney_Hall_-_Urania%27s_Mirror_-_Draco_and_Ursa_Minor.jpg)
In the Babylonian star catalogues, Ursa Minor was known as MAR.GID.DA.AN.NA, the Wagon of Heaven, Damkianna. It appeared on a pair of tablets containing canonical star lists that were compiled around 1000 BC, the MUL.APIN, and was one of the "Stars of Enlil"—that is, the northern sky.[5] The possible origin of its name was its appearing to rotate like a wheel around the north celestial pole.[6]
The first mention of Ursa Minor in Greek texts was by philosopher Thales of Miletus in the 6th century BC. He pointed out that it was a more accurate guide to finding true north than Ursa Major. This knowledge had reportedly come from the Phoenicians in the eastern Mediterranean, and the constellation bore the term Phoinikē.[7] Homer had previously only referred to one "bear",[8] raising the question of what he saw the stars of Ursa Minor as, or whether they were recognized as a constellation at all.[9]
Ursa Minor and Ursa Major were related by the Greeks to the myth of Callisto and her son Arcas, both placed in the sky by Zeus.[6] In a variant of the story in which Boötes represents Arcas, Ursa Minor represents a dog. This is the older tradition, which explains both the length of the tail and the obsolete alternate name of Cynosura (the dog's tail) for Polaris, the North Star.[10] Cynosura is also described as a nurse of Zeus, honoured by the god with a place in the sky.[6] An alternate myth tells of two bears that saved Zeus from his murderous father Kronos by hiding him on Mount Ida. Later Zeus set them in the sky, but their tails grew long from being swung by the god.[11] Because Ursa Minor consists of seven stars, the Latin word for "North" (i.e., where Polaris points) is septentrio, from septem (seven) and triones (oxen), from seven oxen driving a plough, which the seven stars also resemble. This name has also been attached to the main stars of Ursa Major.[6]
Ursa Minor has traditionally been important for navigation, particularly by mariners, because of Polaris being the North Star. Polaris is currently less than one degree away from the north celestial pole (hence the alternative name Pole Star) so its position in the sky is largely unaffected by the rotation of the Earth. From any point in the Northern Hemisphere the direction to Polaris is always north and its angular altitude is roughly equal to the latitude.[12][a]
In Inuit astronomy, the three brightest stars—Polaris, Kochab and Pherkad—were known as Nuutuittut "never moving", though the term is more frequently used in the singular to refer to Polaris alone. The Pole Star is too high in the sky at far northern latitudes to be of use in navigation.[13]
Characteristics[edit]
Ursa Minor is bordered by Camelopardalis to the west, Draco to the west, and Cepheus to the east. Covering 256 square degrees, it ranks 56th of the 88 constellations in size. Ursa Minor is colloquially known in the US as the Little Dipper because its seven brightest stars seem to form the shape of a dipper (ladle or scoop). The star at the end of the dipper handle is Polaris. Polaris can also be found by following a line through the two stars—Alpha and Beta Ursae Majoris—that form the end of the 'bowl' of the Big Dipper, for 30 degrees (three upright fists at arms' length) across the night sky.[14] The four stars constituting the bowl of the Little Dipper are of second, third, fourth, and fifth magnitudes, and provide an easy guide to determining what magnitude stars are visible, useful for city dwellers or testing one's eyesight.[15]
The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the IAU (International Astronomical Union) in 1922, is "UMi".[16] The official constellation boundaries, as set by Eugène Delporte in 1930, are defined by a polygon of 22 segments (illustrated in infobox). In the equatorial coordinate system, the right ascension coordinates of these borders lie between 08h 41.4m and 22h 54.0m, while the declination coordinates range from the north celestial pole south to 65.40°.[1] Its position in the far northern celestial hemisphere means that the whole constellation is only visible to observers in the northern hemisphere.[17][b]
Features[edit]
Stars[edit]
The German cartographer Johann Bayer used the Greek letters alpha to theta to label the most prominent stars in the constellation, while his countryman Johann Elert Bode subsequently added iota to phi. Only lambda and pi remain in use, likely because of their proximity to the north celestial pole.[6] Within the constellation's borders, there are 39 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5.[17][c]
Marking the Little Bear's tail,[6] Polaris, or Alpha Ursae Minoris, is the brightest star in the constellation, varying between apparent magnitude 1.97 and 2.00 over a period of 3.97 days.[19] Located around 432 light-years away from Earth,[20] it is a yellow-white supergiant that varies between spectral types F7Ib and F8Ib,[19] and has around 6 times the Sun's mass, 2,500 times its luminosity and 45 times its radius. Polaris is the brightest Cepheid variable star visible from Earth. It is a triple star system, the supergiant primary star having two yellow-white main-sequence star companions that are 17 and 2,400 astronomical units (AU) distant and take 29.6 and 42,000 years respectively to complete one orbit.[21]
Traditionally called Kochab, Beta Ursae Minoris at apparent magnitude 2.08 is only slightly less bright than Polaris.[22] Located around 131 light-years away from Earth,[23][d] it is an orange giant—an evolved star that has used up the hydrogen in its core and moved off the main sequence—of spectral type K4III.[22] Slightly variable over a period of 4.6 days, Kochab has had its mass estimated at 1.3 times that of the Sun via measurement of these oscillations.[24] Kochab is 450 times more luminous than the Sun and has 42 times its diameter, with a surface temperature of approximately 4,130 K.[25] Estimated to be around 2.95 billion years old, give or take 1 billion years, Kochab was announced to have a planetary companion around 6.1 times as massive as Jupiter with an orbit of 522 days.[26]
Traditionally known as Pherkad, Gamma Ursae Minoris has an apparent magnitude that varies between 3.04 and 3.09 roughly every 3.4 hours.[27] It and Kochab have been termed the "guardians of the pole star".[3] A white bright giant of spectral type A3II-III,[27] with around 4.8 times the Sun's mass, 1,050 times its luminosity and 15 times its radius,[28] it is 487±8 light-years distant from Earth.[23] Pherkad belongs to a class of stars known as Delta Scuti variables[27]—short period (six hours at most) pulsating stars that have been used as standard candles and as subjects to study asteroseismology.[29] Also possibly a member of this class is Zeta Ursae Minoris,[30] a white star of spectral type A3V,[31] which has begun cooling, expanding and brightening. It is likely to have been a B3 main-sequence star and is now slightly variable.[30] At magnitude 4.95 the dimmest of the seven stars of the Little Dipper is Eta Ursae Minoris.[32] A yellow-white main-sequence star of spectral type F5V, it is 97 light-years distant.[33] It is double the Sun's diameter, 1.4 times as massive, and shines with 7.4 times its luminosity.[32] Nearby Zeta lies 5.00-magnitude Theta Ursae Minoris. Located 860 ± 80 light-years distant,[34] it is an orange giant of spectral type K5III that has expanded and cooled off the main sequence, and has an estimated diameter around 4.8 times that of the Sun.[35]
Making up the handle of the Little Dipper are Delta and Epsilon Ursae Minoris. Just over 3.5 degrees from the north celestial pole, Delta is a white main-sequence star of spectral type A1V with an apparent magnitude of 4.35,[36] located 172±1 light-years from Earth.[23] Bearing the proper name of Yildun, it has around 2.8 times the diameter and 47 times the luminosity of the Sun.[37] A triple star system,[38] Epsilon Ursae Minoris shines with a combined average light of magnitude 4.22.[39] A yellow giant of spectral type G5III,[39] the primary is an RS Canum Venaticorum variable star. It is a spectroscopic binary, with a companion 0.36 AU distant, and a third star—an orange main-sequence star of spectral type K0—8100 AU distant.[38]
Located close to Polaris is Lambda Ursae Minoris, a red giant of spectral type M1III. It is a semiregular variable varying from magnitudes 6.35 to 6.45.[40] The northerly nature of the constellation means that the variable stars can be observed all year: the red giant R Ursae Minoris is a semiregular variable varying from magnitude 8.5 to 11.5 over 328 days, while S Ursae Minoris is a long period variable that ranges between magnitudes 8.0 and 11 over 331 days.[41] Located south of Kochab and Pherkad towards Draco is RR Ursae Minoris,[3] a red giant of spectral type M5III that is also a semiregular variable ranging from magnitude 4.44 to 4.85 over a period of 43.3 days.[42] T Ursae Minoris is another red giant variable star that has undergone a dramatic change in status—from being a long period (Mira) variable ranging from magnitude 7.8 to 15 over 310–315 days to a semiregular variable.[43] The star is thought to have undergone a shell helium flash—a point where the shell of helium around the star's core reaches a critical mass and ignites—marked by its abrupt change in variability in 1979.[44] Z Ursae Minoris is a faint variable star that suddenly dropped 6 magnitudes in 1992 and was identified as one of a rare class of stars—R Coronae Borealis variables.[45]
Eclipsing variables are star systems that vary in brightness because of one star passing in front of the other rather than from any intrinsic change in luminosity. W Ursae Minoris is one such system, its magnitude ranging from 8.51 to 9.59 over 1.7 days.[46] The combined spectrum of the system is A2V, but the masses of the two component stars are unknown. A slight change in the orbital period in 1973 suggests there is a third component of the multiple star system—most likely a red dwarf—with an orbital period of 62.2±3.9 years.[47] RU Ursae Minoris is another example, ranging from 10 to 10.66 over 0.52 days.[48] It is a semidetached system, as the secondary star is filling its Roche lobe and transferring matter to the primary.[49]
RW Ursae Minoris is a cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova in 1956, reaching magnitude 6. In 2003, it was still two magnitudes brighter than its baseline, and dimming at a rate of 0.02 magnitude a year. Its distance has been calculated as 5,000±800 parsecs (16,300 light-years), which puts its location in the galactic halo.[50]
Taken from the villain in The Magnificent Seven, Calvera is the nickname given to an X-ray source known as 1RXS J141256.0+792204 in the ROSAT All-Sky Survey Bright Source Catalog (RASS/BSC).[51] It has been identified as an isolated neutron star, one of the closest of its kind to Earth.[52] Ursa Minor has two enigmatic white dwarfs. H1504+65 is a faint (magnitude 15.9) star that with the hottest surface temperature—200,000 K—yet discovered for a white dwarf. Its atmosphere, composed of roughly half carbon, half oxygen and 2% neon, is devoid of hydrogen and helium—its composition unexplainable by current models of stellar evolution.[53] WD 1337+705 is a cooler white dwarf that has magnesium and silicon in its spectrum, suggesting a companion or circumstellar disk, though no evidence for either has come to light.[54] WISE 1506+7027 is a brown dwarf of spectral type T6 that is a mere +2.3
−1.3 light-years away from Earth. 11.1[55] A faint object of magnitude 14, it was discovered by the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) in 2011.[56]
Kochab aside, three more stellar systems have been discovered to contain planets. 11 Ursae Minoris is an orange giant of spectral type K4III around 1.8 times as massive as the Sun. Around 1.5 billion years old, it has cooled and expanded since it was an A-type main sequence star. Around 390 light-years distant, it shines with an apparent magnitude of 5.04. A planet around 11 times the mass of Jupiter was discovered orbiting the star with a period of 516 days in 2009.[57] HD 120084 is another evolved star, this time a yellow giant of spectral type G7III, around 2.4 times the mass of the Sun. It has a planet 4.5 times the mass of Jupiter with one of the most eccentric planetary orbits (with an eccentricity of 0.66), discovered by precisely measuring the radial velocity of the star in 2013.[58] HD 150706 is a sunlike star of spectral type G0V some 89 light-years distant from the Solar System. It was thought to have a planet as massive as Jupiter at a distance of 0.6 AU, but this was discounted in 2007.[59] A further study published in 2012 showed that it has a companion around 2.7 times as massive as Jupiter that takes around 16 years to complete an orbit and is 6.8 AU distant from its Sun.[60]
Deep-sky objects[edit]
Ursa Minor is rather devoid of deep-sky objects. The Ursa Minor Dwarf, a dwarf spheroidal galaxy, was discovered by Albert George Wilson of the Lowell Observatory in the Palomar Sky Survey in 1955.[61] Its centre is around 000 light-years distant from Earth. 225[62] In 1999, Kenneth Mighell and Christopher Burke used the Hubble Space Telescope to confirm that it had a single burst of star formation that lasted around 2 billion years that took place around 14 billion years ago,[63] and that the galaxy was probably as old as the Milky Way itself.[64]
NGC 6217 is a barred spiral galaxy located some 67 million light-years away,[65] which can be located with a 10 cm (4 in) or larger telescope as an 11th magnitude object about 2.5° east-northeast of Zeta Ursae Minoris.[66] It has been characterized as a starburst galaxy, which means it is undergoing a high rate of star formation compared to a typical galaxy.[67]
NGC 6251 is an active supergiant elliptical radio galaxy more than 340 million light-years away from Earth. It has a Seyfert 2 active galactic nucleus, and is one of the most extreme examples of a Seyfert galaxy. This galaxy may be associated with gamma-ray source 3EG J1621+8203, which has high-energy gamma-ray emission.[68] It is also noted for its one-sided radio jet—one of the brightest known—discovered in 1977.[69]
Meteor showers[edit]
The Ursids, a prominent meteor shower that occurs in Ursa Minor, peaks between December 18 and 25. Its parent body is the comet 8P/Tuttle.[70]
Chinese constellation[edit]
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This section may be confusing or unclear to readers. In particular, the name and specifics of the Chinese constellation are not made clear or explained; further explanation of its relevance to Ursa Minor should be included, as well as the relation between it and the Western constellation. A lead should be written in prose for this section. (May 2016) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) |
The map of Ursa Minor in the Chinese constellation:
Enclosures | Enclosure (Chinese name) | Romanization | Translation | Asterisms (Chinese name) | Romanization | Translation | Western star name | Chinese star name | Romanization | Translation |
Three Enclosures (三垣) | 紫微垣 | Zǐ Wēi Yuán | Purple Forbidden enclosure | 北極 | Běijí | Northern Pole | ||||
γ UMi[71] | ||||||||||
北極一 | Běijíyī | 1st star | ||||||||
太子 | Tàizǐ | The Crown Prince | ||||||||
β UMi[71] | ||||||||||
北極二 | Běijíèr | 2nd star | ||||||||
帝 | Dì | The Emperor | ||||||||
帝座 | Dìzuò | The emperor seat | ||||||||
帝王 | Dìwáng | The monarch | ||||||||
昊天上帝 | Hàotiānshàngdì | God in the clear sky | ||||||||
皇天上帝 | Huángtiānshàngdì | Emperor God in the sky | ||||||||
皇天上帝 | Huángtiānshàngdì | Emperor God in the sky | ||||||||
上帝 | Shàngdì | God | ||||||||
天皇帝 | Tiānhuangdì | Celestial emperor | ||||||||
天帝 | Tiāndì | God of heaven | ||||||||
天皇大帝 | Tiānhuángdàdì | Great emperor of heaven | ||||||||
大帝 | Dàdì | Great emperor | ||||||||
天极 | Tiānjí | Celestial pole | ||||||||
大恒 | Dàhéng | The big and permanent (star) | ||||||||
太恒 | Tàihéng | The great and permanent (star) | ||||||||
5 UMi | ||||||||||
北極三 | Běijísān | 3rd star | ||||||||
庶子 | Shùzǐ | The Son of Concubine | ||||||||
4 UMi | ||||||||||
北極四 | Běijísì | 4th star | ||||||||
後宮 | Hòugōng | The Concubine | ||||||||
3 UMi | 庶子增二 | Shùzǐzēngèr | 2nd additional star of The Son of Concubine | |||||||
10 UMi | 庶子增三 | Shùzǐzēngsān | 3rd additional star of The Son of Concubine | |||||||
天床 | Tiānchuáng | Celestial Bed | ||||||||
HD 124730[72] | 天床一 | Tiānchuángyī | 1st star | |||||||
HD 136064[72] | 天床二 | Tiānchuángèr | 2nd star | |||||||
RR UMi[72] | 天床五 | Tiānchuángwǔ | 5th star | |||||||
6 UMi[72] | 天床六 | Tiānchuángliù | 6th star | |||||||
9 UMi | 天床增一 | Tiānchuángzēngyī | 1st additional star | |||||||
11 UMi | 天床增二 | Tiānchuángzēngèr | 2nd additional star | |||||||
勾陳 | Gòuchén | Curved Array | ||||||||
α UMi[71] | ||||||||||
勾陳一 | Gòuchényī | 1st star | ||||||||
勾陳大星 | Gòuchéndàxīng | Big star | ||||||||
δ UMi[71] | 勾陳二 | Gòuchénèr | 2nd star | |||||||
ε UMi[71] | 勾陳三 | Gòuchénsān | 3rd star | |||||||
ζ UMi[71] | 勾陳四 | Gòuchénsì | 4th star | |||||||
λ UMi | 勾陳增五 | Gòuchénzēngwǔ | 5th additional star | |||||||
24 UMi | 勾陳增六 | Gòuchénzēngliù | 6th additional star | |||||||
θ UMi | 勾陳增七 | Gòuchénzēngqī | 7th additional star | |||||||
19 UMi | 勾陳增八 | Gòuchénzēngbā | 8th additional star | |||||||
η UMi | 勾陳增九 | Gòuchénzēngjiǔ | 9th additional star | |||||||
20 UMi | 勾陳增十 | Gòuchénzēngshí | 10th additional star |
See also[edit]
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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Ursa Minor. |
- Ursa Minor Beta, fictional planet in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
References[edit]
Notes[edit]
- ^ The position of the north celestial pole moves in accordance with the Earth's axial precession such that in 12,000 years' time, Vega will be the Pole Star.[12]
- ^ While parts of the constellation technically rise above the horizon to observers between the equator and 24°S, stars within a few degrees of the horizon are to all intents and purposes unobservable.[17]
- ^ Objects of magnitude 6.5 are among the faintest visible to the unaided eye in suburban-rural transition night skies.[18]
- ^ Or more specifically 130.9±0.6 light-years by parallax measurement.[23]
Citations[edit]
- ^ a b c d e f "Ursa Minor, Constellation Boundary". The Constellations. International Astronomical Union. Retrieved 12 May 2014.
- ^ a b Department of Astronomy (1995). "Ursa Minor". University of Wisconsin–Madison. Retrieved 27 June 2015.
- ^ a b c Arnold, H. J. P.; Doherty, Paul; Moore, Patrick (1999). The Photographic Atlas of the Stars. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press. p. 148. ISBN 978-0-7503-0654-6.
- ^ Ridpath, Ian. "Urania's Mirror c.1825 – Ian Ridpath's Old Star Atlases". Self-published. Retrieved 13 February 2012.
- ^ Rogers, John H. (1998). "Origins of the Ancient Constellations: I. The Mesopotamian Traditions". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 108: 9–28. Bibcode:1998JBAA..108....9R.
- ^ a b c d e f Wagman, Morton (2003). Lost Stars: Lost, Missing and Troublesome Stars from the Catalogues of Johannes Bayer, Nicholas Louis de Lacaille, John Flamsteed, and Sundry Others. Blacksburg, Virginia: The McDonald & Woodward Publishing Company. pp. 312, 518. ISBN 978-0-939923-78-6.
- ^ Albright, William F. (1972). "Neglected Factors in the Greek Intellectual Revolution". Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society. 116 (3): 225–42. JSTOR 986117.
- ^ Ridpath, Ian. "Ursa Minor". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 7 March 2015.
- ^ Blomberg, Peter E. (2007). "How Did the Constellation of the Bear Receive its Name?". In Pásztor, Emília. Archaeoastronomy in Archaeology and Ethnography: Papers from the Annual Meeting of SEAC (European Society for Astronomy in Culture), held in Kecskemét in Hungary in 2004 (PDF). Oxford, United Kingdom: Archaeopress. pp. 129–32. ISBN 978-1-4073-0081-8.
- ^ Allen, Richard Hinckley (1969). Star Names: Their Lore and Meaning. Dover Publications Inc. (Reprint of 1899 original). ISBN 0-486-21079-0.
- ^ Rogers, John H. (1998). "Origins of the Ancient Constellations: II. The Mediterranean traditions". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 108: 79–89. Bibcode:1998JBAA..108...79R.
- ^ a b Kenneth R. Lang (24 May 2013). Essential Astrophysics. Springer Science & Business Media. pp. 10–15. ISBN 978-3-642-35963-7.
- ^ MacDonald, John (1998). The Arctic Sky: Inuit Astronomy, Star Lore, and Legend. Toronto, Ontario: Royal Ontario Museum/Nunavut Research Institute. p. 61. ISBN 978-0-88854-427-8.
- ^ O'Meara, Stephen James (1998). The Messier Objects. Deep-sky Companions. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. p. 10. ISBN 0-521-55332-6.
- ^ Olcott, William Tyler (2012) [1911]. Star Lore of All Ages: A Collection of Myths, Legends, and Facts Concerning the Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere. New York, New York: Courier Corporation. p. 377.
- ^ Russell, Henry Norris (1922). "The New International Symbols for the Constellations". Popular Astronomy. 30: 469. Bibcode:1922PA.....30..469R.
- ^ a b c Ridpath, Ian. "Constellations: Lacerta–Vulpecula". Star Tales. Self-published. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ Bortle, John E. (February 2001). "The Bortle Dark-Sky Scale". Sky & Telescope. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
- ^ a b Otero, Sebastian Alberto (4 December 2007). "Alpha Ursae Minoris". The International Variable Star Index. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 16 May 2014.
- ^ "Alpha Ursae Minoris – Classical Cepheid (Delta Cep Type)". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- ^ Kaler, James B. "Polaris". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- ^ a b "Beta Ursae Minoris – Variable Star". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ^ a b c d van Leeuwen, F. (2007). "Validation of the New Hipparcos Reduction". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 474 (2): 653–64. arXiv:0708.1752
. Bibcode:2007A&A...474..653V. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20078357.
- ^ Tarrant, N.J.; Chaplin, W.J.; Elsworth, Y.; Spreckley, S.A.; Stevens, I.R. (June 2008). "Oscillations in ß Ursae Minoris. Observations with SMEI". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 483 (3): L43–L46. arXiv:0804.3253
. Bibcode:2008A&A...483L..43T. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:200809738.
- ^ Kaler, James B. "Kochab". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- ^ Lee, B.-C.; Han, I.; Park, M.-G.; Mkrtichian, D.E.; Hatzes, A.P.; Kim, K.-M. (2014). "Planetary Companions in K giants β Cancri, μ Leonis, and β Ursae Minoris". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 566: 7. arXiv:1405.2127
. Bibcode:2014A&A...566A..67L. doi:10.1051/0004-6361/201322608. A67.
- ^ a b c Watson, Christopher (4 January 2010). "Gamma Ursae Minoris". The International Variable Star Index. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ^ Kaler, James B. (20 December 2013). "Pherkad". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
- ^ Templeton, Matthew (16 July 2010). "Delta Scuti and the Delta Scuti Variables". Variable Star of the Season. AAVSO (American Association of Variable Star Observers). Retrieved 19 August 2014.
- ^ a b Kaler, James B. "Alifa al Farkadain". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ "Zeta Ursae Minoris – Variable Star". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ a b Kaler, James B. "Anwar al Farkadain". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ "Eta Ursae Minoris". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ "Theta Ursae Minoris –- Variable Star". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ Pasinetti Fracassini, L. E.; Pastori, L.; Covino, S.; Pozzi, A. (February 2001). "Catalogue of Apparent Diameters and Absolute Radii of Stars (CADARS) – Third edition – Comments and statistics". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 367: 521–24. arXiv:astro-ph/0012289
. Bibcode:2001A&A...367..521P. doi:10.1051/0004-6361:20000451.
- ^ "Delta Ursae Minoris". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ Kaler, James B. "Yildun". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ a b Kaler, James B. "Epsilon Ursae Minoris". Stars. University of Illinois. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ a b "Epsilon Ursae Minoris – Variable of RS CVn type". SIMBAD Astronomical Database. Centre de Données astronomiques de Strasbourg. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
- ^ Watson, Christopher (4 January 2010). "Lambda Ursae Minoris". The International Variable Star Index. American Association of Variable Star Observers. Retrieved 21 June 2014.
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