Star Lore Of All Ages/Ursa Minor

by William Tyler Olcott

Ursa Minor

The Lesser Bear

Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor
The Lesser Bear

The lesser Wain
Is circling round the polar star.
Tennyson. 

Ursa Minor, in its present form, seems to have originated with the Phcenicians. It was not mentioned by Homer or Hesiod, for, according to Strabo, it was not admitted among the constellations of the Greeks until about 600 b.c., when Thales, inspired by its use in Phoenicia, suggested it to the Greek mariners in place of the Great Bear which hitherto had been their guide in navigating the seas. Hence the designation of the group as "Phoinike."

Observing this Phoenicians plough the main.
Aratos. 

Thales is reported to have formed it by utilising the ancient wings of Draco.

The Greeks knew the constellation as "Cynosura" or "the Dog's Tail"; possibly it resembled in part the upturned coil of the tail of a dog, although one authority claims it is in no way associated with the Greek word for dog.

Brown asserts that the word is not Hellenic in origin, but Euphratean. He mentions an early constellation as "Annasurra," meaning "high in rising," certainly an appropriate title for this constellation.

Plutarch claims that the names of the Bears are derived from the use that they were put to in navigation. He says that the Phoenicians called the constellation that guided them in navigation "Doube," that is, "the speaking constellation," and that this same word happens to mean in that language a "bear," and so the name was confounded.

Aratos expressly states that the Greeks still (270 b.c.) continued to steer by "Helice" (Ursa Major), while the expert Phœnicians directed their course by "Cynosura" (Ursa Minor).

Jensen identifies this constellation with "the Leopard" of Babylonia, while on the Nile it was known as "the Dog of Set." The figure of a jackal, which is identified with this constellation, appears on the round zodiac of Denderah. The jackal also appears in the carvings on the walls of the Ramesseum.

Cassius thought that Ursa Minor represented the chariot sent by Joseph to bring his father down into Egypt, or that in which Elijah was carried to heaven, or the bear which David slew.

According to mythology, the Bears were transferred to heaven as a reward for hiding Zeus in Crete from his cannibal father Kronos.

Ursa Minor was also identified with Areas the son of Callisto, transported to the skies as he was about to slay his mother in the guise of a bear.

The two Bears were also fabled to have nursed Zeus on Mt. Ida. Zeus, as a reward for their faithful service, changed them into nymphs and placed them among the stars.

The Little Bear that rocked the mighty Jove.
Manilius. 

The American Indians had a legend respecting this constellation which is as follows: "A hunting party of Indians lost their way, and being in doubt which way to proceed they prayed to the gods to direct them homeward. During their deliberations a little child appeared in their midst and proclaimed herself to be the spirit of the Pole Star and their guide. Following her they reached home safely, and thereafter called the Pole Star 'the star which never moves.' When the hunters died they were carried up into the heavens, and we can see them in the stars of the Little Dipper following the Pole Star faithfully every clear night."

One of the Western Indian tribes regarded Ursa Minor as a Bear, the head of the beast being represented by the three stars forming a triangle, and its back by seven other stars.

The Eskimos thought that this constellation represented four men carrying a sick baby.

Ursa Minor's chief claim to recognition lies in the universal observation of its lucida, the standard second magnitude star Alpha, known as "the Pole Star" or "Polaris," and to the Greeks as "Phœnice."

This famous star, which has been called "the lovely northern light," is the "most practically useful star in the heavens." It is the best known and most celebrated of all the stars.

The mariners of the ancient and modern worlds have placed an equal faith in the guiding beams of this steadfast star. Phœnician barks and Roman triremes, the ships of the Spanish Armada, and those that bore the early adventurers and explorers over the unknown seas, as well as the canoes and rude dugouts of the savages of many lands, have all turned their prows alike in answer to its beckoning light.

Dryden thus describes the infancy of navigation:

Rude as their ships were navigated then,
 No useful compass, no meridian known,
Coasting they kept the land within their ken
 And knew no north but when the Pole Star shone.

The antiquity of the knowledge of this star is attested by the fact that on the Assyrian tablets we find the Pole Star mentioned. The fact that it appears fixed was perhaps the first discovery made in the stellar universe.

It was called "the Judge of Heaven," and "the High One of the Enclosure of Light." This title was also applied to Alpha Draconis, which was in very early times the Pole Star.

In China, Polaris was called "the Great Imperial Ruler of Heaven," and "the Emperor of Emperors," and it has been from ancient times an object of worship in that land.

The ancient Mayans of Yucatan knew it as "the North Star," "the Star of the Shield," and "the Guide of the Merchants." In the Alphonsine Tables it bears the name "Alruccabah," of uncertain origin. The Greeks called it "Cynosure," and the Romans "Cynosura." Our word "cynosure" gets its meaning from Polaris, which has always been the most observed of all stars.

The Arabic name for Polaris was "the Kid," and their astronomers called it "the star of the north." It was also known in Arabia as "the hole in which the axle of the earth was borne." There was a belief among the common people of Arabia that a fixed contemplation of this star would cure itching of the eyelids.

Poets of all nations in all periods of the world's history have sung the praises of the North Star.

Marvell writes of it:

By night the northern star their way directs.

Thomas Moore thus refers to it:

      that star, on starry nights
The seaman singles from the sky,
To steer his bark forever by.

Shakespeare, Milton, Wordsworth, Rossetti, and Bryant have all alluded to Polaris in their poems.

During the Civil War, escaping slaves and Northern prisoners directed their way to a harbour of refuge and home by the friendly beams of Polaris.

The Turks call the North Star "Yilduz," the star par excellence, and have a story that its light was concealed for a time after the capture of Constantinople. In Damascus it was called "Mismār," a "needle" or "nail."

Other titles for the Pole Star are "the Chariot Star," "the Steering Star," "the Lodestar," "the Northern Axle" or "Spindle."

It is generally supposed that the North Star marks the true Pole of the earth, but in reality it is 1° 14′ distant from the true Pole. Its mean right ascension, as given by the Harvard Observatory List of Bright Stars, is 1 h 22.6 m., consequently when the right ascension of the meridian of any place is the same, Polaris will be exactly on the meridian at that time and place, but above or below the true Pole. The approximate location of the true Pole may be found by drawing an imaginary line from Polaris to ζ Ursæ Majoris. The Pole is on this line in the direction of ζ at a distance from Polaris equal to about one fourth of the distance between the Pointer stars of the Dipper.

Polaris revolves around the true Pole once in twenty-four hours in a little circle 2.5° in diameter. Within this circle two hundred stars have been photographed. "Polaris will continue its gradual approach to the Pole till about the year 2095, when it will be only 26′ 30″ away from it. It will then recede," according to Allen, "in favour successively of γ, π, ζ, ν, and α, Cephei, and α, and δ, Cygni, and α Lyæe, Vega, when, marked by this last brilliant star 11,500 years hence, the Pole will beabout fifty degrees distant from its present position and within five degrees of Vega, which for 3000 years will serve as the Pole Star of the then existing races of mankind. The Polar point will then circle past ι and τ Herculis, θ, ι, and α, Draconis, β, Ursæ Majoris, and κ, Draconis back to our Polaris again, the entire period being from 25,695 to 25,868 years according to different calculations." See accompanying diagram.

Polaris is from thirty-six to sixty-three light years distant from the earth, and is receding from our system at the rate of sixteen miles a second. Its spectrum is Sirian, and as a standard second magnitude star it furnishes a means of comparison of stellar magnitudes. It has a 9.5 magnitude companion, sometimes regarded as a test star for small telescopes. This faint star has two almost dark companions revolving around it, a fact discovered by means of the spectroscope.

Polaris is presumably about the size of the sun, and at the distance of the nearest fixed star our sun would shine as a star no brighter than Polaris. It is of interest to note in passing that the North Star is elevated as many degrees above the horizon as the observer is north of the Equator, so that if a person were to stand at the North Pole, Polaris would be directly overhead.

β Ursæ Minoris was known to the Arabs as "Kochab." They also called it "the Bright One," and "the Lights of the Two Calves." The Chinese knew it as "the Emperor." Its spectrum is solar and it is receding from us at the rate of about eight miles a second.

β and γ, were known as "the Guardians or Wardens of the Pole."

Shakespeare in Othello thus refers to them:

The wind-slak'd surge, with high and monstrous mane.
Seems to cast water on the burning Bear,
And quench the guards of th' ever fixed pole.

These stars were also called "the Dancers," and "Vigiles."

Allen tells us that these guardian stars were used as a timepiece by the common people, in the same way that Charles's Wain was used for a like purpose, as has been referred to.

γ Ursæ Minoris is a wide double, and these stars were known to the Arabs as one star, called "the dim one of the two calves."

The stars in the vicinity of the North Pole represented to the Arabs a shepherd, who, with his dog, is supposed to be pasturing a herd of sheep. To this group belong two calves, three goats, four camels, and a foal. These animals are all in the neighbourhood of Cepheus. A single camel (represented by a star in Draco) has strayed away to pasture alone. Two jackals and several hyenas are prowling about with wicked intentions.

The four stars in the bowl of the Little Dipper serve as an excellent means of comparing stellar magnitudes. The stars are β, γ, ζ, and η, and are respectively of the second, third, fourth, and fifth magnitudes.

Names by which Ursa Minor has been known:
In the Euphratean Star List—		Circler of the Midst.
In Babylonia—		The Leopard.
In Egypt—		The Jackal of Set or Sati.
In Greece—		Cynosura.
In Arabia—		Hole bearing the earth's axle.
In India—	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Mount Meru.
		The Seat of the Gods.
		Dhruva.
In Scandinavia, Denmark, Iceland—	$\scriptstyle {\left\{{\begin{matrix}\ \\\\\ \\\ \ \end{matrix}}\right.}$	Throne of Thor.
		The Smaller Chariot.
		The Little Waggon.
		The Milkmaids of the Sky.
Indians of North America—		A Bear.
The Gaels called it—Fire Tail.

It has also been called "the Little Wain" or "Chariot," "the Little Dipper," "the Little Bear," "St. Michael," and "the Waggon of Joseph."

Dr. Seiss regards it as a sheepfold, and the Arabs called the three stars in the tail of the Little Bear, "the Daughters of the Lesser Bier."

In conclusion the writer quotes in part from Bryant's beautiful "Hymn to the North Star":

The sad and solemn night
Hath yet her multitude of cheerful fires;
The glorious host of light
Walk the dark hemisphere till she retires;
All through her silent watches, gliding slow,
Her constellations come, and climb the heavens, and go.
 ·······
And thou dost see them rise,
Star of the Pole : and thou dost see them set.
Alone, in thy cold skies,
Thou keep'st thy old unmoving station yet,
Nor join'st the dances of that glittering train,
Nor dipp'st thy virgin orb in the blue western main.
 ·······
On thy unaltering blaze
The half-wrecked mariner, his compass lost,
Fixes his steady gaze,
And steers, undoubting, to the friendly coast;
And they who stray in perilous wastes, by night,
Are glad when thou dost shine to guide their footsteps right