50 Fun Facts About Polaris

Polaris is the brightest star of which constellation?

Its designation is Alpha Ursae Minoris; it marks the tip of the Little Dipper's handle.

What kind of star is Polaris Aa, the main component of the system?

It is spectral type F7Ib, with about five times the Sun's mass and a radius 46 times larger.

Polaris looks like one star but is actually how many?

Polaris Aa and its close companion Ab are orbited at a distance by Polaris B; two further 'companions' turned out to be unrelated.

Who discovered Polaris B, the outer companion, in August 1779?

He used a reflecting telescope of his own making; the inner pair was only confirmed in the early 20th century.

Which space telescope first resolved all three members of the Polaris system in January 2006?

The CHARA Array later refined the inner orbit and put the supergiant's mass at about 5.1 solar masses.

Polaris is the closest example of which class of pulsating star, used as a 'standard candle'?

Henrietta Leavitt found the period-luminosity relationship for these stars in 1908; Polaris pulses roughly every four days.

Roughly how long is Polaris's pulsation period?

The period has been creeping longer by about 4.5 seconds a year, though a 2023 study found it began shrinking around 2010.

Which Danish astronomer confirmed in 1911 that Polaris is a variable star?

Its brightness range is only about 1.86 to 2.13 and the amplitude has shrunk since then, a change seen in no other Cepheid.

Research in the journal Science suggests Polaris has done what since Ptolemy observed it?

Astronomer Edward Guinan called such a change 100 times larger than stellar evolution theory predicts.

Approximately how far away is Polaris, according to the Gaia mission?

Hipparcos had put Polaris A at about 432 light-years; a rival 'short' estimate of around 323 light-years was long debated.

Is Polaris the brightest star in the night sky?

Its apparent magnitude of about 1.98 is respectable, but its fame comes from position, not brilliance.

How far was Polaris from the true north celestial pole in 2018?

That is about 1.4 Moon-widths; it will close to about 0.45 degrees soon after 2100 before drifting away again.

In the northern hemisphere, the height of Polaris above the horizon gives a navigator approximately what?

Twice each sidereal day its bearing is exactly true north; the rest of the time a small correction is needed.

Which two stars in the bowl of the Plough are the 'pointers' that lead the eye to Polaris?

Extend the line through the front of the bowl about five times its length and you reach the North Star.

Why does the pole star change over thousands of years?

Hipparchus is usually credited with discovering the precession of the equinoxes in the 2nd century BC.

Which star in Draco was the pole star around 2750 BC, when the pyramids were being built?

In 3000 BC it lay within 0.1 degrees of the pole, closer than any other visible pole star.

Which bright star will be the pole star around AD 14,500?

Before that the pole passes Errai in Cepheus around AD 4000 and Deneb around AD 10,000.

Which Greek navigator, around 320 BC, described the celestial pole as having no star at all?

In classical times the pole lay roughly midway between Kochab and Polaris, about 10 degrees from each.

Kochab and Pherkad, the two bright stars in the bowl of the Little Bear, are known by what nickname?

From about 1700 BC to AD 300 they served as twin pole stars, though neither was as close to the pole as Polaris is now.

What is the dim southern counterpart of Polaris, one degree from the south celestial pole?

Officially named Polaris Australis, it is only magnitude 5.5 and barely visible to the naked eye.

In which 1492 work did the phrase 'stella polaris', source of the name Polaris, first appear in print?

That same year Columbus had to correct his course for the circle the star described about the pole.

Which explorer corrected for 'the circle described by the pole star' on his first Atlantic crossing in 1492?

Polaris was then several degrees from the pole, far more than today.

In which Shakespeare play does the title character call himself 'as constant as the northern star'?

An anachronism: in Caesar's own day there was no constant northern star.

The old English word 'lodestar' for Polaris means what?

It is attested from the 14th century and is cognate with Old Norse leidarstjarna.

The word 'cynosure' comes from a Greek name for the Little Bear meaning what?

By the early modern period Cynosura had become a name for the pole star itself.

In the Hindu Puranas, the pole star is personified under which name, meaning 'immovable'?

Finnish tradition called it the 'nail star', as if the sky were fastened to it.

In the African-American folk song 'Follow the Drinking Gourd', the drinking gourd stands for what?

The song, first published in 1928, encoded directions north for people escaping slavery on the Underground Railroad.

Which state's flag, designed by 13-year-old Benny Benson in 1927, shows the Plough and Polaris?

Polaris also appears on the flags of Maine, Minnesota, Nunavut and the city of Duluth.

Which Canadian territory's flag and coat of arms feature Polaris alongside an inuksuk?

In Inuit astronomy the star is called Nuutuittuq.

The Polynesian Voyaging Society uses the Hawaiian name Hokupa'a for Polaris. What does it mean?

The Lakota name Wichahpi Owanzila likewise means the star that stands still.

Which classic 1802 navigation manual by Nathaniel Bowditch lists Polaris among its navigational stars?

Modern almanacs tabulate Polaris and 57 other navigational stars.

The Polaris weapon of 1960 was notable as the first American ballistic system launched from where?

USS George Washington was the first submarine able to deploy it; Lockheed built all three versions.

Under a 1963 deal, which country's navy took on its nuclear deterrent with Polaris missiles?

Italy tested the missile but never adopted it; the US began replacing Polaris with Poseidon in 1972.

The Polaris Music Prize is awarded annually to the best album from which country?

Modelled on the Mercury Prize, it judges artistic merit regardless of sales or genre and pays 50,000 dollars.

How much is the Polaris Music Prize worth since Slaight Music raised it in 2015?

It started at 20,000 dollars in 2006 and rose to 30,000 in 2011.

Polaris Inc., maker of snowmobiles and off-road vehicles, was founded in which Minnesota town?

Co-founder Edgar Hetteen is called the father of the snowmobile; the company still builds vehicles there.

Which historic American bike marque did Polaris Inc. buy in 2011?

It had run its own Victory Motorcycles brand until January 2017.

Marvel's Polaris, the green-haired mutant Lorna Dane, is the daughter of which villain?

She debuted in X-Men #49 in 1968, but the parentage was only confirmed in a 2003 storyline.

Marvel's Polaris first appeared in 1968 but did not use the name until which year?

Arnold Drake and Jim Steranko created her; her on-off partner is Havok.

SpaceX's Polaris Dawn mission of September 2024 was the earliest ever to do what?

Jared Isaacman's crew also flew 1,400 km out, the farthest crewed flight since Apollo.

Who bankrolled and commanded Polaris Dawn?

The Shift4 founder had earlier flown Inspiration4, which raised more than 250 million dollars for St. Jude.

Which Greek philosopher urged sailors to steer by the Little Bear, as the Phoenicians did?

The constellation was even nicknamed Phoenice, the Phoenician Bear.

Polaris is the first classical Cepheid to have its mass measured by what method?

The supergiant Polaris Aa weighs in at roughly 5.4 solar masses, with its close companion Ab orbiting it.

Roughly how far from the primary does the outer companion Polaris B orbit?

Polaris B is an F3 main-sequence star of about 1.39 solar masses; the inner companion Ab is far closer.

What was Polaris called in Old English, reflecting its use by sailors?

The Old English form was scip-steorra; the later name lodestar, meaning guiding star, is attested from the 14th century.

In the ancient Finnish worldview, Polaris was called naulatähti, meaning what?

Finns imagined the sky as a wheel turning on the star as a pivot, so it was also called the sky pin or world pin.

In pre-Islamic Arab astronomy Polaris was called al-Jady, meaning what kind of animal?

At that time the star was still several degrees from the pole and visibly circled it rather than sitting fixed.

The Lakota name for Polaris, Wičháȟpi Owáŋžila, translates to what?

In the Lakota story he married Red Cheeked Woman, who fell from the heavens; he has stared down from the above land ever since.

Which body formally approved the proper name Polaris for Alpha Ursae Minoris Aa in 2016?

The IAU's new Working Group on Star Names listed Polaris among its first batches of standardized names in July 2016.

Besides Alaska, which two US state flags depict Polaris?

The flag of the city of Duluth, Minnesota, and Nunavut's flag and coat of arms also carry the North Star.