Editing Ursa Minor (section)

== Characteristics ==
[[File:Book of the Fixed Stars Auv0043 ursa minor cropped.jpg|thumb|Ursa Minor as depicted in [[The Book of Fixed Stars]], ca. 1009-1010. Unlike in western representations, the bear is drawn with its tail drooping down.]]
Ursa Minor is bordered by [[Camelopardalis]] to the west, [[Draco (constellation)|Draco]] to the west, and Cepheus to the east. Covering 256&nbsp;[[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 (spoon)|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 Ursae Majoris|Alpha]] and [[Beta Ursae Majoris]], popularly called the Pointers—that form the end of the "bowl" of the Big Dipper, for 30 degrees (three upright fists at arms' length) across the night sky.<ref name=omeara1998>{{cite book | author=O'Meara, Stephen James | title=The Messier Objects | series=Deep-sky Companions | publisher=Cambridge University Press |location=Cambridge, UK| year=1998 | isbn=978-0-521-55332-2 | url=https://archive.org/details/messierobjectsfi00omea | url-access=registration | page=[https://archive.org/details/messierobjectsfi00omea/page/10 10]}}</ref> The four stars constituting the bowl of the Little Dipper are of second, third, fourth, and fifth magnitudes, respectively, and provide an easy guide to determining what magnitude stars are visible, useful for city dwellers or testing one's eyesight.<ref>{{cite book | author=Olcott, William Tyler | author-link1=William Tyler Olcott | title=Star Lore of All Ages: A Collection of Myths, Legends, and Facts Concerning the Constellations of the Northern Hemisphere | publisher=Courier Corporation |location=New York, New York | date=2012 | orig-year=1911 | page=377 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ODJM51UvfzEC&pg=PA377| isbn=978-0-486-14080-3 }}</ref><!-- cites previous two sentences -->

The three-letter abbreviation for the constellation, as adopted by the IAU ([[International Astronomical Union]]) in 1922, is "UMi".<ref name="pa30_469">{{cite journal | last=Russell | first=Henry Norris |author-link=Henry Norris Russell | title=The New International Symbols for the Constellations | journal=[[Popular Astronomy (US magazine)|Popular Astronomy]] | volume=30 | page=469 | bibcode=1922PA.....30..469R | date=1922}}</ref> The official constellation boundaries, as set by Belgian astronomer [[Eugène Joseph Delporte|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 {{RA|08|41.4}} and {{RA|22|54.0}}, while the [[declination]] coordinates range from the north celestial pole to 65.40° in the south.<ref name="boundary">{{Cite journal | title=Ursa Minor, Constellation Boundary | journal=The Constellations | publisher=International Astronomical Union | url=https://www.iau.org/public/themes/constellations/#umi | access-date=12 May 2014}}</ref> Its position in the far northern celestial hemisphere means that the whole constellation is visible only to observers in the northern hemisphere.<ref name=tirionconst>{{cite web| url=http://www.ianridpath.com/constellations2.html | title=Constellations: Lacerta–Vulpecula | work= Star Tales |author=Ridpath, Ian |publisher=Self-published | access-date= 21 June 2014}}</ref>{{efn|1=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.<ref name=tirionconst />}}