- Polaris
Starbox begin
name=Alpha Ursae Minoris Starbox image
caption=Polaris as seen by the Hubble Space Telescope. Starbox observe
epoch=J2000
ra=02h 31m 48.7s
dec=+89° 15′ 51″
appmag_v=1.97
constell=Ursa Minor Starbox character
class=F7 Ib-II SB
b-v=0.60
u-b=0.38
variable=Cepheid variable Starbox astrometry
radial_v=-17
prop_mo_ra=44.22
prop_mo_dec=-11.74
parallax=7.56
p_error=0.48
absmag_v=-3.64 Starbox detail
mass= 4.3 +1.1 for Pol B
radius=30
luminosity=2200 | temperature=7200
metal= 112% solar [cite journal
last = Cayrel de Strobel
first = G.
coauthors = Soubiran, C.; Ralite, N.
title =Catalogue of [Fe/H] determinations for FGK stars: 2001 edition
year = 2001
journal = A&A
volume = 373
pages = 159–163
url = http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2001A%26A...373..159C ]
rotation=~17 km/s
age=?Starbox catalog
names=Polaris, Cynosura, Alruccabah, Phoenice,Lodestar, Pole Star, Tramontana, Angel Stern,
Navigatoria, Star of Arcady, Yilduz, Mismar,
Поля́рная звезда́ (Polyarnaya zvyezda), 1 Ursae Minoris, HR 424,
BD +88°8, HD 8890, SAO 308, FK5 907,
GC 2243, ADS 1477, CCDM 02319+8915, HIP 11767.
Polaris (α UMi / α Ursae Minoris / Alpha Ursae Minoris, commonly North(ern) Star or Pole Star, and sometimes
Lodestar ) is the brightest star in theconstellation Ursa Minor . It is very close to the northcelestial pole (42′ awayas of 2006 ), making it the current northernpole star .Polaris is about 430
light-years from Earth. Concerning the detailed physics, α UMi A is an F7 bright giant (II) or supergiant (Ib). The two smaller companions are: α UMi B, an F3Vmain sequence star orbiting at a distance of 2400 AU, and α UMi Ab, a very close dwarf with an 18.5 AU radius orbit. Recent observations show that Polaris may be part of a looseopen cluster of type A and F stars.Polaris B can be seen with even a modest telescope and was first noticed by
William Herschel in 1780. In 1929, it was discovered by examining the spectrum of Polaris A that it had another very close dwarf companion (variously α UMi P, α UMi a or α UMi Ab), which had been theorized in earlier observations (Moore, J.H and Kholodovsky, E. A.). In January 2006,NASA released images from the Hubble telescope, directly showing all three members of the Polaris trinary system. The nearer dwarf star is in an orbit of only 18.5 AU (2.8 billion km; [ [http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/archive/releases/2006/02/fastfacts/ There's More to the North Star Than Meets the Eye] ] about the distance from ourSun toUranus ) from Polaris A, explaining why its light is swamped by its close and much brighter companion. [cite conference | author= Evans, N. R.; Schaefer, G.; Bond, H.; Bono, G.; Karovska, M.; Nelan, E.; Sasselov, D. | title=Direct detection of the close companion of Polaris with the Hubble Space Telescope | booktitle=American Astronomical Society 207th Meeting | date=January 9 2006 | url=http://www.aas.org/publications/baas/v37n4/aas207/1130.htm]Polaris is a classic
Population I Cepheid variable (although it was once thought to be Population II due to its highgalactic latitude ). Since Cepheids are an importantstandard candle for determining distance, Polaris (as the closest such star) is heavily studied. Around 1900, the star luminosity varied ±8% from its average (0.15 magnitudes in total) with a 3.97 day period; however, the amplitude of its variation has been quickly declining since the middle of the 20th century. The variation reached a minimum of 1% in the mid 1990s and has remained at a low level. Over the same period, the star has brightened by 15% (on average), and the period has lengthened by about 8 seconds each year.Recent research reported in "Science" suggests that Polaris is 2.5 times brighter today than when
Ptolemy observed it (now 2mag, antiquity 3mag). AstronomerEdward Guinan considers this to be a remarkable rate of change and is on record as saying that "If they are real, these changes are 100 times larger than [those] predicted by current theories ofstellar evolution ."Pole Star
Because α UMi lies nearly in a direct line with the axis of the
Earth 's rotation "above" theNorth Pole — the north celestial pole — Polaris stands almost motionless on the sky, and all the stars of the Northern sky appear to rotate around it. Therefore, it makes an excellent fixed point from which to draw measurements forcelestial navigation and forastrometry . The antiquity of its use is attested by the fact that it is found represented on the earliest knownAssyria n tablets. In more recent history it was referenced inNathaniel Bowditch 's 1802 book, TheAmerican Practical Navigator , where it is listed as one of thenavigational stars . [Nathaniel Bowditch : TheAmerican Practical Navigator , 2002 Bicentennial Ed., Chapter 15 Navigational Astronomy, page 248, Figure 1530a. Navigational stars and the planets] At present, Polaris is 0.7° away from the pole of rotation (1.4 times theMoon disc) and hence revolves around the pole in a small circle 1½° in diameter. Only twice during everysidereal day does Polaris accurately define the true northazimuth ; the rest of the time it is only an approximation and must be corrected using tables or a roughrule of thumb .Due to the
precession of the equinoxes , Polaris will not always be the pole star. Over tens of thousands of years, perturbations to the Earth's axis of rotation will cause it to point to other regions of the sky, tracing out a circle. Other stars along this circle were the pole star in the past and will be again in the future, includingThuban andVega . Polaris has been close to the actual position of the north pole for over 1000 years and during the course of the 21st Cross (Crux ) points fairly accurately towards the south celestial pole.Etymology and cultural significance
To the Bedouin people of the
Negev andSinai , Polaris is known as الجديّ "al-jadiyy", "the billy goat". It and "Suhail" (=Canopus , α Car) are the two principal stars used for nomadic wandering at night. Because it was circumpolar and hence always visible, it became associated with a steadfast nature, as opposed to "Suhail", which disappears below the horizon and hence 'flees'. [cite journal |last=Bailey |first=Clinton |year=1974 |title=Bedouin Star-Lore in Sinai and the Negev |journal=Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London |volume=37 |issue=3 |pages=580–96 |url=http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0041-977X%281974%2937%3A3%3C580%3ABSISAT%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Q (abstract)|accessdate=2008-01-14]A
monkey 's head is the emblem of theMayan god of the pole star.Christopher Columbus didn't have to use Polaris for navigationbecause the compass was already invented. But he did check the direction of the compass needle against the glow of this star. Afterleaving Canary Islands he noticed that the compass needle pointed toward NW, discovering a phenomenon called variance where a secondary magnetic field is superimposed on the primary field of a dipole.cite book |last=Cooper |first=JC |title=Symbolic and Mythological Animals |pages=163 |year=1992 |publisher= Aquarian Press |location=London |isbn=1-85538-118-4]
See also
* Polaris in fiction
References
External links
* [http://www.astro.uiuc.edu/~kaler/sow/polaris.html Info on Polaris]
* [http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0002406 Polaris: astrometric orbit, position, and proper motion(mass = 6.0±0.5 M)]
* [http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/archive/releases/2006/02/ Polaris Ab imaged by Hubble]
* [http://arxiv.org/abs/astro-ph/0609759 Polaris: Mass and Multiplicity (mass = 5.0±1.5 M)]
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