#yildun

In order of brightness:

Polaris (α Ursae Minoris, top-most star) is the brightest star in Ursa Minor and is about 445 light years from Earth. Although it appears as a solitary star, it is actually a triple star system. Polaris Aa is a yellow supergiant star about 5 times more massive and over 46 times the size of the Sun, while Polaris Ab and Polaris B are comparably smaller and less massive. The name "Polaris" comes from the neo-Latin stella polaris for "polar star." It was during the Renaissance that Polaris became the pole star, and will cease being the pole star around the 41st century.

Kochab (β Ursae Minoris, right-most star in the cup) is a solitary orange giant star about 131 light years from Earth. It is about 1.3 times the mass of the Sun but over 44 times the size. The name perhaps comes from the Arabic word al-kawkab or the Hebrew word kōkhāv, both of which mean "planet" or "star."

Pherkad (γ Ursae Minoris, bottom-most star) is a solitary blue-white giant star about 487 light years from Earth. It is about 15 times as large as the Sun. The name comes from the Arabic phrase aḫfa al farkadayn meaning "the dim one of the two calves."

ε Ursae Minoris (two stars down from Polaris) is a binary star system composed of a yellow giant and a blue-white star. The system is about 300 light years from Earth.

ζ Ursae Minoris (top-most star of the cup) is a solitary star about 369 light years from Earth. It is a blue-white star with about 3.5 times the mass of the Sun and over 6 times as large. It is rapidly rotating at 210 km/s (470,000 mph), meaning its radius at the equator is about 10% larger than the radius at the poles!

Yildun (δ Ursae Minoris, one star down from Polaris) is a solitary white star about 172 light years from Earth. It has about twice the mass and size of the Sun. The name comes from the Turkish word yıldız meaning "star."