- Star Tales - Ursa Minor (ianridpath.com)
The Little Bear was said by the Greeks to have been first named by the astronomer Thales of Miletus, who lived from about 625 to 545 BC. The earliest reference to it seems to have been made by the poet Callimachus of the third century BC, who reported that Thales ‘measured out the little stars of the Wain [wagon] by which the Phoenicians sail’. The little bear was evidently unknown to Homer, two centuries before Thales, for he wrote only of the Great Bear, never mentioning its smaller counterpart.
- Gamma Trianguli Australis (Wikipedia)
Gamma Trianguli Australis, Latinized from γ Trianguli Australis, is a single, white-hued star in the southern constellation of Triangulum Australe. Along with Alpha and Beta Trianguli Australis it forms a prominent triangular asterism that gives the constellation its name (Latin for southern triangle). It is the third-brightest member of this constellation with an apparent visual magnitude of +2.87. Based upon parallax measurements, Gamma Trianguli Australis is located at a distance of about 190 light-years (58 parsecs) from Earth.
- Ursa Minor (Wikipedia)
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.
