Polaris is the brightest star in which constellation?
"Polaris has long been important for the cosmic distance ladder because, prior to Gaia, it was the only Cepheid variable for which direct distance data existed, which had a ripple effect on distance measurements that use this ""ruler"". Polaris in stellar catalogues and atlases Polaris Polaris, designated Alpha Ursae Minoris ( Ursae Minoris, abbreviated Alpha UMi, UMi), commonly the North Star or Pole Star, is the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The revised Hipparcos parallax gives a distance to Polaris of"
"the North Star. Polaris, the brightest star in the constellation, is a yellow-white supergiant and the brightest Cepheid variable star in the night sky, ranging from an apparent magnitude of 1.97 to 2.00. Beta Ursae Minoris, also known as Kochab, is an aging star that has swollen and cooled to become an orange giant with an apparent magnitude of 2.08, only slightly fainter than Polaris. Kochab and magnitude 3 Gamma Ursae Minoris have been called the ""guardians of the pole star"". Planets have been detected orbiting four of the stars, including Kochab. The constellation also contains an isolated neutron star—Calvera—and"
"remain in use, likely because of their proximity to the north celestial pole. Within the constellation's borders, there are 39 stars brighter than or equal to apparent magnitude 6.5. Marking the Little Bear's tail, Polaris, or Alpha Ursae Minoris, is the brightest star in the constellation, varying between apparent magnitude 1.97 and 2.00 over a period of 3.97 days. Located around 432 light-years away from Earth, it is a yellow-white supergiant that varies between spectral types F7Ib and F8Ib, and has around 6 times the Sun's mass, 2,500 times its luminosity and 45 times its radius. Polaris is the brightest"
"a subsequent immortal existence in the realm of the stars). A consequence of the precession is a changing pole star. Currently Polaris is extremely well suited to mark the position of the north celestial pole, as Polaris is a moderately bright star with a visual magnitude of 2.1 (variable), and it is located about one degree from the pole, with no stars of similar brightness too close. The previous pole star was Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris, β UMi, β Ursae Minoris), the brightest star in the bowl of the ""Little Dipper"", located 16 degrees from Polaris. It held that role"
"Alpha Fornacis Alpha Fornacis (α Fornacis, abbreviated Alpha For, α For), also designated 12 Eridani, is a binary star system in the southern constellation of Fornax. It is the brightest star in the constellation and the only one brighter than magnitude 4.0. Based on parallax measurements obtained during the Hipparcos mission, it is approximately 46 light-years (14 parsecs) distant from the Sun. Its two components are designated Alpha Fornacis A (also named Dalim) and B. ""α Fornacis"" (Latinised to ""Alpha Fornacis"") is the system's Bayer designation, ""12 Eridani"" its Flamsteed designation. The designations of the two components as ""Alpha Fornacis"
"star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star. 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. During the 1st millennium BC, Beta Ursae Minoris (""Kochab"") was the bright star closest to the celestial pole, but it was never close enough to be taken as marking the pole, and the Greek navigator Pytheas in ca. 320 BC described the celestial pole as devoid of stars. In the Roman era, the celestial pole was about equally distant between Polaris and Kochab. The precession of the equinoxes"
"Pole star A pole star or polar star is a star, preferably bright, closely aligned to the axis of rotation of an astronomical object. With regard to planet Earth, the pole star refers to Polaris (Alpha Ursae Minoris), a magnitude 2 star aligned approximately with its northern axis, and a pre-eminent star in celestial navigation. In classical antiquity, Beta Ursae Minoris (Kochab) was closer to the celestial north pole than Alpha Ursae Minoris. While there was no naked-eye star close to the pole, the midpoint between Alpha and Beta Ursae Minoris was reasonably close to the pole, and it appears"
"Alpha Persei Alpha Persei (α Persei, abbreviated Alpha Per, α Per), also named Mirfak, is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Perseus, just outshining the constellation's best known star, Algol. α Persei has an apparent visual magnitude of 1.8, and is a circumpolar star when viewed from mid-northern latitudes. Mirfak lies in the midst of a cluster of stars named as the eponymous Alpha Persei Cluster, or ""Melotte 20"", which is easily visible in binoculars and includes many of the fainter stars in the constellation. Determined distance using the trigonometric parallax, places the star from the Sun. The"
"of its proximity to the Solar System. In contrast, the other bright stars of the constellation are stars of great distance and high luminosity. At magnitude 1.5, Epsilon Canis Majoris (Adhara) is the second-brightest star of the constellation and the brightest source of extreme ultraviolet radiation in the night sky. Next in brightness are the yellow-white supergiant Delta (Wezen) at 1.8, the blue-white giant Beta (Mirzam) at 2.0, blue-white supergiants Eta (Aludra) at 2.4 and Omicron at 3.0, and white spectroscopic binary Zeta (Furud), also at 3.0. The red hypergiant VY Canis Majoris is one of the largest stars known,"
"Betelgeuse Betelgeuse, also designated Alpha Orionis (α Orionis, abbreviated Alpha Ori, α Ori), is on average the ninth-brightest star in the night sky and second-brightest in the constellation of Orion. It is distinctly reddish, and is a semiregular variable star whose apparent magnitude varies between 0.0 and 1.3, the widest range of any first-magnitude star. Betelgeuse is one of three stars that make up the asterism of the Winter Triangle, and it marks the center of the Winter Hexagon. If the human eye could view all wavelengths of radiation, Betelgeuse would be the brightest star in the night sky. Classified"
"held by Polaris which is just 0.5° off of the precessional path. Both δ Cygni A and B have been suspected to vary in brightness. δ Cygni A was reported in 1951 as varying between magnitudes 2.85 and 2.89, and δ Cygni B was reported in 1837 to vary between magnitudes 6.3 and 8.5. The variability of the stars has not been confirmed. Delta Cygni Delta Cygni (δ Cygni, abbreviated Delta Cyg, δ Cyg) is a binary star of a combined third-magnitude in the constellation of Cygnus. It is also part of the Northern Cross asterism whose brightest star is"
"Polaris is also known as the North Star, and is generically called a pole star or lodestar. Polaris is only visible during fair weather at night to inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere. The asterism ""Big Dipper"" may be used to find Polaris. The 2 corner stars of the ""pan"" (those opposite from the handle) point above the top of the ""pan"" to Polaris. While observers in the Northern hemisphere can use the star Polaris to determine the Northern celestial pole, the Octans constellation's South Star is hardly visible enough to use for navigation. For this reason, the preferred alternative is"
"Regulus Regulus, also designated Alpha Leonis (α Leonis, abbreviated Alpha Leo, α Leo), is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, lying approximately 79 light years from the Sun. Regulus is a multiple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. The spectroscopic binary Regulus A consists of a blue-white main-sequence star and its companion, which has not yet been directly observed, but is probably a white dwarf. Located farther away are Regulus B, C, and D, which are dim main-sequence stars. ""α Leonis"" (Latinized"
"mentally draw a line from the Pleiades star cluster located in Taurus and the brightest star in Leo, Regulus. In doing so, an imaginary line that is relatively close to the ecliptic is drawn, a line which intersects Gemini roughly at the midpoint of the constellation, just below Castor and Pollux. The constellation contains 85 stars visible to observation on Earth without a telescope. The brightest star in Gemini is Pollux, and the second-brightest is Castor. Castor's Bayer designation as ""Alpha"" arose because Johann Bayer did not carefully distinguish which of the two was the brighter when he assigned his"
"which time the pole of the Earth's rotation follows a circular path across the celestial sphere that passes near several prominent stars. At present the pole star is Polaris, but around 12,000 BC the pole was pointed only five degrees away from Vega. Through precession, the pole will again pass near Vega around AD 14,000. Vega is the brightest of the successive northern pole stars. This star lies at a vertex of a widely spaced asterism called the Summer Triangle, which consists of Vega plus the two first-magnitude stars Altair, in Aquila, and Deneb in Cygnus. This formation is the"
"(see ""The Stars My Destination"" by Alfred Bester, Demon Princes by Jack Vance, and Star Trek below). Rigel is the brightest star in the constellation Orion and the sixth brightest star in the sky, with an apparent magnitude of 0.18. Although it has the Bayer designation ""Beta,"" it is almost always brighter than Alpha Orionis (Betelgeuse). Whereas the latter star represents the right shoulder of the Hunter, Rigel represents his left foot. It is the first star counterclockwise from Sirius in the Winter Hexagon, and is followed in turn by Aldebaran. The star's name is a contraction of ""Riǧl Ǧawza"
"Pictor Pictor is a constellation in the Southern Celestial Hemisphere, located between the star Canopus and the Large Magellanic Cloud. Its name is Latin for painter, and is an abbreviation of the older name Equuleus Pictoris (the ""painter's easel""). Normally represented as an easel, Pictor was named by Abbé Nicolas-Louis de Lacaille in the 18th century. The constellation's brightest star is Alpha Pictoris, a white main-sequence star around 97 light-years away from Earth. Pictor also hosts RR Pictoris, a cataclysmic variable star system that flared up as a nova, reaching apparent (visual) magnitude 1.2 in 1925 before fading into obscurity."
"Alpha Phoenicis Alpha Phoenicis (α Phoenicis, abbreviated Alpha Phe or α Phe), also named Ankaa, is the brightest star in the constellation of Phoenix. ""Alpha Phoenicis"" is the star's Bayer designation. It also bore the traditional name Ankaa sometime after 1800, from the Arabic العنقاء ""al-ʿanqā’"" ""the phoenix"" for the name of the constellation. Medieval Arab astronomers formed the constellation of the dhow (where Phoenix is), so another popular name for the star is ""Nair al Zaurak"" from نائر الزوق ""na’ir az-zawraq"" ""the bright (star) of the skiff"". The Latin translation is ""Cymbae,"" from ""lūcida cumbae"". In 2016, the International"
"Antares Antares (), also designated Alpha Scorpii (α Scorpii, abbreviated Alpha Sco, α Sco), is on average the fifteenth-brightest star in the night sky, and the brightest star in the constellation of Scorpius. Distinctly reddish when viewed with the naked eye, Antares is a slow irregular variable star that ranges in brightness from apparent magnitude +0.6 to +1.6. Often referred to as ""the heart of the scorpion"", Antares is flanked by Sigma and Tau Scorpii in the center of the constellation. Classified as a red supergiant of spectral type M1.5Iab-Ib, Antares is the brightest, most massive, and most evolved stellar"
"Pollux (star) Pollux, also designated Beta Geminorum (β Geminorum, abbreviated Beta Gem, β Gem), is an orange-hued evolved giant star approximately 34 light-years from the Sun in the northern constellation of Gemini. It is the brightest star in the constellation of Gemini and the closest giant star to the Sun. Since 1943, the spectrum of this star has served as one of the stable anchor points by which other stars are classified. In 2006, an extrasolar planet (designated Pollux b or β Geminorum b, later named Thestias) was confirmed to be orbiting it. ""β Geminorum"" (Latinised to ""Beta Geminorum"") is"
"barium, which may be the result of the S-process of nucleosynthesis in the outer atmosphere of the star. It has a relatively high peculiar velocity of . \end{align}</math></ref> Epsilon Pegasi Epsilon Pegasi (ε Pegasi, abbreviated Epsilon Peg, ε Peg), also named Enif (EE-nif), is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Pegasus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 2.4, this is a second-magnitude star that is readily visible to the naked eye. The distance to this star can be estimated using parallax measurements from the Hipparcos astrometry satellite, yielding a value of around . ""ε Pegasi"" (Latinised to ""Epsilon"
"Procyon Procyon ( ), also designated Alpha Canis Minoris (α Canis Minoris, abbreviated Alpha CMi, α CMi), is the brightest point of light in the constellation of Canis Minor; to the naked eye, it appears to be a single star, the eighth-brightest in the night sky with a visual apparent magnitude of 0.34. It is a binary star system, consisting of a white main-sequence star of spectral type F5 IV–V, named Procyon A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DQZ, named Procyon B. As determined by the European Space Agency Hipparcos astrometry satellite, it lies at a"
"Alpha Apodis Alpha Apodis (Alpha Aps, α Apodis, α Aps) is the brightest star in the southern circumpolar constellation of Apus, with an apparent magnitude of approximately 3.825. It had the Greek alpha designation at part of the constellation Johann Bode called Apis Indica in his 1603 ""Uranometria"" star atlas. With a declination of –79°, this is a circumpolar star for much of the southern hemisphere. It can be identified on the night sky by drawing an imaginary line through Alpha Centauri and Alpha Circini then extending it toward the south celestial pole. This is a giant star with a"
"from 1500 BC to AD 500 . It was not quite as accurate in its day as Polaris is today. Today, Kochab and its neighbor Pherkad are referred to as the ""Guardians of the Pole"" (meaning Polaris). On the other hand, Thuban in the constellation Draco, which was the pole star in 3000 BC, is much less conspicuous at magnitude 3.67 (one-fifth as bright as Polaris); today it is invisible in light-polluted urban skies. The brilliant Vega in the constellation Lyra is often touted as the best north star (it fulfilled that role around 12,000 BC and will do so"
"is the third-brightest star in the constellation Cygnus, is actually a close binary itself. Also in the Cygnus constellation is Cygnus X-1, an X-ray source considered to be a black hole. It is a high-mass X-ray binary, with the optical counterpart being a variable star. Sirius is another binary and the brightest star in the night time sky, with a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46. It is located in the constellation Canis Major. In 1844 Friedrich Bessel deduced that Sirius was a binary. In 1862 Alvan Graham Clark discovered the companion (Sirius B; the visible star is Sirius A). In"
"Beta Carinae Beta Carinae (β Carinae, abbreviated Beta Car, β Car), also named Miaplacidus, is the second brightest star in the constellation of Carina and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, with apparent magnitude 1.68. It is the brightest star in the south polar asterism known as the Diamond Cross, marking the southwestern end of the asterism. It lies near the planetary nebula IC 2448. Parallax measurements place it at a distance of from the Sun. ""β Carinae"" (Latinised to ""Beta Carinae"") is the star's Bayer designation. The star's historical name ""Miaplacidus"" made its debut on star"
"of names approved by the WGSN; which included ""Arcturus"" for this star. It is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names. With an apparent visual magnitude of −0.05, Arcturus is the brightest star in the northern celestial hemisphere and the fourth-brightest star in the night sky, after Sirius (−1.46 apparent magnitude), Canopus (−0.72) and Alpha Centauri AB (−0.27). However, Alpha Centauri AB is a binary star, whose unresolved components to the naked eye are both fainter than Arcturus. This makes Arcturus the third-brightest individual star, just ahead of Alpha Centauri A, whose apparent magnitude is −0.01. The"
"Orion (constellation) Orion is a prominent constellation located on the celestial equator and visible throughout the world. It is one of the most conspicuous and recognizable constellations in the night sky. It was named after Orion, a hunter in Greek mythology. Its brightest stars are Rigel (Beta Orionis) and Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis), a blue-white and a red supergiant, respectively. The earliest depiction that has been linked to the constellation of Orion is a prehistoric (Aurignacian) mammoth ivory carving found in a cave in the Ach valley in West Germany in 1979. Archaeologists have estimated it to have been fashioned approximately"
"to 40 MK. However, the current popular hypothesis involves a merger of a close binary system in which the orbital angular momentum of the companion is transferred to the primary. Pollux is the brightest star in the constellation Gemini, despite its Beta designation, and the 17th brightest in the sky. Pollux is a giant orange K star that makes an interesting color contrast with its white ""twin"", Castor. Evidence has been found for a hot, outer, magnetically supported corona around Pollux, and the star is known to be an X-ray emitter. New X-ray observations by the Chandra X-ray Observatory show"
"is known as (, .) Parallax measurements made with the Hipparcos astrometry satellite place Pollux at a distance of about from the Sun. At an apparent visual magnitude of 1.14, Pollux is the brightest star in the constellation, brighter even than its neighbor Castor (Alpha Geminorum). The star is larger than the Sun, with about two times its mass and almost nine times its radius. Once an A-type main sequence star, Pollux has exhausted the hydrogen at its core and evolved into a giant star with a stellar classification of K0 III. The effective temperature of this star's outer envelope"
"Lion:the King."" Regulus Regulus, also designated Alpha Leonis (α Leonis, abbreviated Alpha Leo, α Leo), is the brightest star in the constellation of Leo and one of the brightest stars in the night sky, lying approximately 79 light years from the Sun. Regulus is a multiple star system composed of four stars that are organized into two pairs. The spectroscopic binary Regulus A consists of a blue-white main-sequence star and its companion, which has not yet been directly observed, but is probably a white dwarf. Located farther away are Regulus B, C, and D, which are dim main-sequence stars. ""α"
"Sirius Sirius (, a latinisation of Greek , ""Seirios"", .""glowing"" or ""scorching"") is a binary star and the brightest point of light in the night sky. With a visual apparent magnitude of −1.46, it is almost twice as bright as Canopus, the next brightest star. The system has the Bayer designation α (Alpha) Canis Majoris. The binary system consists of a main-sequence star of spectral type A0 or A1, termed Sirius A, and a faint white dwarf companion of spectral type DA2, designated Sirius B. The distance between the two varies between 8.2 and 31.5 astronomical units as they orbit"
"Epsilon Pegasi Epsilon Pegasi (ε Pegasi, abbreviated Epsilon Peg, ε Peg), also named Enif (EE-nif), is the brightest star in the northern constellation of Pegasus. With an apparent visual magnitude of 2.4, this is a second-magnitude star that is readily visible to the naked eye. The distance to this star can be estimated using parallax measurements from the Hipparcos astrometry satellite, yielding a value of around . ""ε Pegasi"" (Latinised to ""Epsilon Pegasi"") is the star's Bayer designation. It bore the traditional name ""Enif"" derived from the Arabic word for 'nose', due to its position as the muzzle of Pegasus."