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The position of the star lies less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The stable position of the star in the Northern Sky makes it useful for navigation. [16] As the closest Cepheid variable its distance is used as part of the cosmic distance ladder.
In 3000 BC, the faint star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star, aligning within 0.1° distance from the celestial pole, the closest of any of the visible pole stars. [ 7 ] [ 8 ] However, at magnitude 3.67 (fourth magnitude) it is only one-fifth as bright as Polaris, and today it is invisible in light-polluted urban skies.
The stars Merak (β Ursae Majoris) and Dubhe (α Ursae Majoris) are known as the "pointer stars" because they are helpful for finding Polaris, also known as the North Star or Pole Star. By visually tracing a line from Merak through Dubhe (1 unit) and continuing for 5 units, one's eye will land on Polaris, accurately indicating true north.
A star chart of the entire Northern Sky, centered on the north celestial pole. The northern celestial hemisphere, also called the Northern Sky, is the northern half of the celestial sphere; that is, it lies north of the celestial equator. This arbitrary sphere appears to rotate westward around a polar axis due to Earth's rotation.
The following is a list of stars with resolved images, that is, stars whose images have been resolved beyond a point source. Aside from the Sun , observed from Earth , stars are exceedingly small in apparent size, requiring the use of special high-resolution equipment and techniques to image.
Vega has been extensively studied by astronomers, leading it to be termed "arguably the next most important star in the sky after the Sun". [18] Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BCE and will be so again around the year 13,727, when its declination will be +86° 14′. [19]
Seventh brightest star in the night sky. Canopus (α Carinae) 73.3 [96] AD Second brightest star in the night sky. Gacrux (γ Crucis) 73 [97] L/T eff: Twenty-sixth brightest star in the night sky. Polaris (α Ursae Minoris) 46.27 ± 0.42 [98] AD The current star in the North Pole. It is a Classical Cepheid variable, and the brightest example of ...
The star Polaris, often called either the "Pole Star" or the "North Star", is treated specially due to its proximity to the north celestial pole. When navigating in the Northern Hemisphere , a simple and quick technique can be used with Polaris to determine the observers latitude or, for larger maritime vessels can be used to calculate any ...