The alpha star is Polaris. It is the current northern pole star and is considered an important star that is used to determine the direction and latitude in the Northern Hemisphere.
It's also called the Little Dipper because when the bright stars of the constellation are connected with lines, it forms a similar shape to the Big Dipper in the constellation Ursa Major.

The constellation that represents a small bear. At the end of its tail is the alpha star, Polaris.
It is the current northern pole star and the brightest in Ursa Minor.
Polaris means 'of the pole' in Latin and is named so because it's the closest visible star to the celestial North Pole.
From ancient times, it's been considered an important star in navigation as it was used to determine the direction and the position of ships.

The second brightest star in Ursa Minor, after Polaris, called Kochab.
It means 'north star' in Arabic.
When the brightest stars in the constellation Ursa Major are connected, they form a similar shape to the Big Dipper. For this reason, it was also called the Little Dipper.

There is a story that Ursa Minor is Arcas, the hunter hat appears in Greek mythology.
Arcas was born to the great god Zeus and the forest nymph Callisto.
Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, became angry and turned Callisto into a large bear.
Ashamed of her appearance, Callisto left Arcas and hid in the forest.

Arcas, who grew into a fine hunter as time passed, encountered his mother Callisto in the form of a bear. Callisto was delighted to see her son again and approached him, but Arcas, not knowing that the bear was his mother, tried to hunt Callisto.
Zeus, seeing this, turned Arcus into a little bear and brought them both up into the sky to become Ursa
Minor and Ursa Major.