- Ursa Minor (Latin: ‘Lesser Bear’, contrasting with Ursa Major), also known as the Little Bear, is a constellation located in the far northern sky. As with 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. Ursa Minor 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 pole star.
- T Coronae Borealis (Wikipedia)
T Coronae Borealis (T CrB), nicknamed the Blaze Star, is a binary star and a recurrent nova about 3,000 light-years (920 pc) away in the constellation Corona Borealis. It was first discovered in outburst in 1866 by John Birmingham, though it had been observed earlier as a 10th magnitude star. It may have been observed in 1217 and in 1787 as well. In February 1946 a 15-year-old schoolboy from Wales named Michael Woodman observed a flare up, subsequently writing to the Astronomer Royal and leading to the theory that the star flares each 80 years.
