Polaris

E572584

Polaris is the brightest star in the constellation Ursa Minor and the current North Star, lying nearly in line with Earth's rotational axis and serving as a key reference point for navigation in the Northern Hemisphere.

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Statements (50)

Predicate Object
instanceOf Cepheid variable star
North Star
star
age_millionYears about 70
alsoKnownAs Alpha Ursae Minoris NERFINISHED
Alruccabah NERFINISHED
α Ursae Minoris NERFINISHED
angularSeparationFromNorthCelestialPole_degrees less than 1
apparentMagnitude 1.98
colorIndexB−V 0.60
companionStar Polaris Ab NERFINISHED
Polaris B NERFINISHED
constellation Ursa Minor NERFINISHED
declination +89° 15′ 50.8″
distanceFromEarth_ly about 433
distanceFromEarth_pc about 133
eclipticLatitude_degrees about +66
effectiveTemperature_K about 6015
equatorialCoordinatesEpoch J2000.0
galacticPopulation Population I
hasRole pole star
hemisphereVisibility Northern Hemisphere NERFINISHED
isBrightestStarOf Ursa Minor NERFINISHED
isCircumpolarFrom most mid‑northern latitudes
isNorthStarSince late Middle Ages
locatedIn Milky Way
Ursa Minor constellation region NERFINISHED
luminosity_solarLuminosities about 1260
mass_solarMasses about 5.4
metallicity_FeH about +0.07
nearCelestialPole true
orbitalPeriod_PolarisA-Ab_years about 29.6
orbitalPeriod_PolarisA-B_years about 26,000
parallax_mas 7.54
primaryComponent Polaris A NERFINISHED
pulsationAmplitude_magnitudes about 0.03
pulsationPeriod_days about 3.97
radialVelocity_kmPerSec −17
radius_solarRadii about 37.5
reasonForNorthStarStatus alignment with Earth rotational axis
rightAscension 02h 31m 49.09s
spectralClass F7Ib
systemComponents Polaris A NERFINISHED
Polaris Ab NERFINISHED
Polaris B NERFINISHED
usedFor celestial navigation
finding geographic north
measuring latitude in Northern Hemisphere
variableType Classical Cepheid
willNotRemainNorthStar true

Referenced by (2)

Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.