Ursa Minor
A chart to find your bearings, five stars to start with and links to continue exploring.
Latin name: Ursa Minor · Genitive: Ursae Minoris · International abbreviation: UMi
Record an observation →
How to read this chart
The boundaries outline an official region of the sky. Lines between stars are visual conventions; they do not represent physical connections. Dot sizes indicate apparent brightness.
Coordinates are for epoch J2000. The chart shows neither your horizon nor the current positions of the Moon or planets. Names and symbols are those of the original chart.
Messier objects
No Messier catalogue object lies in this constellation. That does not mean it contains nothing of interest: the Messier catalogue is a historical selection, not a complete inventory of the sky.
Sources and conventions
Fact sheets adapted from Steve Cimolino’s volume II, Comprendre comment explorer le ciel, version dated 17 October 2026. French names and the selection of five stars are taken from the book. The Latin name of Apus was corrected against the IAU list.
Charts: IAU / Sky & Telescope, Roger Sinnott and Rick Fienberg; line figures by Alan MacRobert. Epoch J2000. CC BY 4.0. The book’s files were losslessly converted to WebP, without cropping or changes to the line figures. Names on the charts retain their original language.
Stars and magnitudes: data from the book adapted from HYG v4.1, David Nash, under CC BY-SA 4.0. The relevant adaptations retain this licence. Magnitudes are indicative, particularly for variable stars.
Discover volume II →