Ursa Minor (cave) Ursa Minor (cave) Ursa Minor Cave is part of Sequoia National Park, a naturally formed system of caves in California's Sierra Nevada. The cave was discovered in August 2006 by four cave explorers from the Cave Research Foundation who found a softball-sized hole on a cliff face in the mountains. After widening the hole to allow for human entry, the explorers discovered one of the most spectacular caves in the western United States. The cave has since been named "Ursa Minor," because of the large bear skeleton found in the cave. The cave was featured in the September 2007 issue
Ursa Minor northern direction. Since the medieval period, it has become convenient to use Alpha Ursae Minoris (or "Polaris") as the north star, even though it was still several degrees away from the celestial pole. Its New Latin name of "stella polaris" was coined only in the early modern period. The ancient name of the constellation is "Cynosura" (Greek Κυνοσούρα "dog's tail"). The origin of this name is unclear (Ursa Minor being a "dog's tail" would imply that another constellation nearby is "the dog", but no such constellation is known). Instead, the mythographic tradition of "Catasterismi" makes "Cynosura" the name of an