Ursa Minor is a constellation in the northern sky, the name of which means "Smaller Bear" in Latin. It is one of the 88 modern constellations, and was also one of the 48 listed by Ptolemy. It is notable as the location of the north celestial pole, although this will change after some centuries due to the effects of precession.
Ursa Minor contains an asterism colloquially known as the "Little Dipper" because its brightest stars seem to form a ladle, or dipper shape. The star at the end of the dipper handle is Polaris, the "North" or "Pole Star".
Polaris can also be found by following a line through the two stars which form the end of the "bowl" of the Big Dipper, a nearby asterism found in the constellation Ursa Major.
The two brightest stars are:
Polaris (α UMi): a yellow supergiant of spectral type F7 and an apparent brightness of 2.02m
Kochab (β UMi): a giant orange star; spectral type K4; brightness 2.08
One of Artemis' companions, Callisto, lost her virginity to Zeus, who had come disguised as Artemis. Enraged, Artemis changed her into a bear. Callisto's son, Arcas, nearly killed his mother while hunting, but Zeus or Artemis stopped him and placed them both in the sky as Ursa Major and Ursa Minor.
Hera was not pleased with the placement of Callisto and Arcas in the sky, so she asked her nurse, Tethys, to help. Tethys, a marine goddess, cursed the constellations to forever circle the sky and never drop below the horizon, hence explaining why they are circumpolar.
