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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. [16] The position of the star lies less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star.
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.
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 ...
A pole star is a visible star that is approximately aligned with the axis of rotation of an astronomical body; that is, a star whose apparent position is close to one of the celestial poles. On Earth , a pole star would lie directly overhead when viewed from the North or the South Pole .
Three cases are dependent on the observer's latitude (L) and the declination (δ) of the celestial object: [citation needed]. The object is above the horizon even at its lower culmination; i.e. if | δ + L | > 90° (i.e. if in absolute value the declination is more than the colatitude, in the corresponding hemisphere)
The International Astronomical Union (IAU) defines the north pole of a planet or any of its satellites in the Solar System as the planetary pole that is in the same celestial hemisphere, relative to the invariable plane of the Solar System, as Earth's north pole. [1] This definition is independent of the object's direction of rotation about its ...
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.
Constellation positions change throughout the year due to night on Earth occurring at gradually different portions of its orbit around the Sun. As Earth rotates toward the east, the celestial sphere appears to rotate west, with stars circling counterclockwise around the northern pole star and clockwise around the southern pole star. [22]