This is an ancient constellation, but not as old as Ursa Major in the Greek world. It may have originally been a Phoenician constellation and used by that seafaring civilisation for navigation. It is the female cub of the Great Bear and has the indignity of being swung round the celestial pole by its tail every day. It has two second magnitude stars (Polaris and Kochab), but otherwise it is a dim small constellation. It is just about visible in Havering as it can be found with the help of the pointers of the Plough (Merak and Dubhe) and because of its distinctive shape. The two outer stars of the constellation, Kochab and Pherkad, are known as the “guardians” of the North Celestial Pole. Polaris has been the bright star near the pole only since about 500 AD, but it has long been used for navigation. Currently it is about 1.3 degrees from the pole and will be at its closest around 2100. It is about 433 light years distant and is the closest Cepheid variable to us.

There are no important deep-sky objects in Ursa Minor and only two decent double stars. Polaris has a faint companion (9th magnitude), which can be seen (just) in a small telescope. They are yellow and pale blue in colour. The other worthwhile double is Pi1 Ursae Minoris [1], two relatively bright stars, which are nicely wide and both white. Close to Ursa Minor, although technically in Camelopardalis, is STF 1694 [2] which is also known as 32 (Hevelius) Camelopardalis or 32H Cam for short. They are two white stars similar in brightness (mag. 5.3 and 5.7) which are a nice distance apart and both white. .