Constellation in the Northern sky, whose name means the "Lesser Bear" in
Latin. It contains an
asterism colloquially known as the
Little Dipper because its brightest
stars seem to form a ladle, or dipper shape. The star at the end of the dipper handle is
Polaris, the North or Pole Star. Polaris can also be found by following a line through the two stars which form the end of the "bowl" of the
Big Dipper, a nearby asterism found in the constellation
Ursa Major.