Alaska

Designed by 13-year-old Alaska native Benny Benson in 1927 (over 30 years before Alaska became an official state), the dark blue background symbolises the sky and the seven smaller stars are in the shape of the Big Dipper (an asterism in the constellation Ursa Major, which symbolises a bear, a species native to Alaska). The solitary large star is the North Star, as Alaska is the most northerly state in the Union.