Polaris, the North Star

stars · navigation · night sky · northern hemisphere

The North Star guide. Polaris sits less than 1 degree away from the north celestial pole, which means it stays in almost the same spot in the sky all night long while other stars appear to rotate around it. For hundreds of years, sailors and explorers have used this steady position to figure out which way is north.

A yellow supergiant. Polaris is a yellow supergiant star, which means it's much bigger and brighter than our Sun. You can see it with your naked eye on any clear night in the Northern Hemisphere, and it's the brightest star in its constellation, Ursa Minor.

Perfect for finding north. Because Polaris barely moves in the sky, it became nature's compass for people trying to navigate across oceans and land. If you find Polaris, you've found true north, which helped explorers, sailors, and travelers know exactly where they were going.

Flickering brightness. The brightness of Polaris changes slightly over time, fluctuating around a magnitude of 1.98, which means it's not perfectly steady but close enough for navigation purposes.