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The stars of Ursa Minor is a good constellation to determine how faint of a star can be observed. On star maps bright stars are represented with large dots while dimmer stars are represented with smaller dots. The brightness of the stars of Ursa Minor get fainter starting with Polaris at 2.0 magnitude which is located on the right side of the below star maps. The rest of the stars starting from bright to dim are 2.1, 3.1, 4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 5.0, 5.2 and 5.5 magnitude. Also note that Polaris is located in the same place in the sky throughout the year for each observing location. Because Portland, Oregon, U.S.A. is at north 45 degrees latitude Polaris is always located half way between the directly overhead and due north.

Ursa Minor
Ursa Minor with magnitude

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