Ursa Minor The tradition of naming the northern constellations "bears" appears to be genuinely Greek, although Homer refers to just a single "bear". The original "bear" is thus Ursa Major, and Ursa Minor was admitted as second, or "Phoenician Bear" (Ursa Phoenicia, hence Φοινίκη, Phoenice) only later, according to Strabo (I.1.6, C3) due to a suggestion by Thales, who suggested it as a navigation aid to the Greeks, who had been navigating by Ursa Major. In classical antiquity, the celestial pole was somewhat closer to Beta Ursae Minoris than to Alpha Ursae Minoris, and the entire constellation was taken to indicate the
Ursa Minor (album) separate but companion type fourth and fifth albums. "Ursa Major" was released on August 18, 2009, with "Ursa Minor" having a tentative release scheduled for later in the same year. However, focus on touring in support of "Ursa Major" pushed the release back, while work on the album continued through 2010 and 2011. In April 2010, Brad Hargreaves stated that they were continuing to flesh out the material for it, and in July 2010, the band announced they had re-entered the studio to continue work on the album. By January 2011, the band had returned to touring, though Jenkins continued