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It is designated α Ursae Minoris (Latinized to Alpha Ursae Minoris) and is commonly called the North Star or Pole Star. With an apparent magnitude that fluctuates around 1.98, [ 3 ] it is the brightest star in the constellation and is readily visible to the naked eye at night. [ 15 ]
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.
Over the course of an evening in the Northern Hemisphere, circumpolar stars appear to circle around the north celestial pole. Polaris (within 1° of the pole) is the nearly stationary bright star just to the right of center in this star trail photo.
Polaris, the North Star, is found by imagining a line from Merak (β) to Dubhe (α) and then extending it for five times the distance between the two Pointers. Extending a line from Megrez (δ) to Phecda (γ), on the inside of the bowl, leads to Regulus (α Leonis) and Alphard (α Hydrae). A mnemonic for this is "A hole in the bowl will leak on ...
Alioth is the brightest star of Ursa Major and the 33rd-brightest in the sky, with a magnitude of 1.76. It is also the brightest of the chemically peculiar Ap stars, magnetic stars whose chemical elements are either depleted or enhanced, and appear to change as the star rotates. [10]
A spacecraft has beamed back some of the best close-up photos ever of Mercury’s north pole. The European and Japanese robotic explorer swooped as close as 183 miles (295 kilometers) above ...
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Images taken by comet hunter Michael Jäger, for instance, make it look as if the tail is breaking off. Andrew Griffin reports. ... This will help you locate the North Star, also known as Polaris ...