Little Dipper
Discover amazing facts about the Little Dipper, the smaller constellation that contains Polaris, the famous North Star
The Little Dipper looks like a smaller version of the Big Dipper with Polaris at the end of its handle
The Little Dipper is like the Big Dipper's smaller cousin! This constellation, officially called Ursa Minor (the Little Bear), contains seven stars arranged in the shape of a little ladle or dipper. The most famous star in the Little Dipper is Polaris, the North Star, which sits at the very end of the handle. While the Big Dipper is easy to spot because all its stars are bright, the Little Dipper can be trickier to see because some of its stars are quite faint - you need a fairly dark sky to see all seven stars clearly.
What makes the Little Dipper extra special is that it contains the most important navigation star in the northern sky - Polaris! This star sits almost exactly above Earth's North Pole, so while all the other stars and constellations appear to rotate around the sky each night, Polaris stays in the same spot. For thousands of years, sailors, explorers, and travelers have used Polaris to find their way. The Little Dipper appears to circle around Polaris throughout the night, like a cosmic clock marking the hours.
