What is North Star?

About North Star:

• The North Star is also known as Pole Star.
• It is a very bright star — around 2,500 times more luminous than the Sun.
• It is part of the constellation Ursa Minor and is around 323 light years away from the Earth.
• The North star is less than 1° away from the north celestial pole, almost in direct line with the Earth’s rotational axis.
• It appears to sit motionless in the northern sky, with all the other stars appearing to rotate around it.
• Its position and brightness have allowed humans to use it for navigation since late antiquity.
• The elevation of the star above the horizon gives the approximate latitude of the observer.
• Upon crossing the equator to the south, however, the North Star is lost over the horizon and hence stops being a useful navigational aid.

What is Ursa Minor?

• It is one of the 48 constellations identified by the Greek astronomer Ptolemy in the second century.
• It is also called the Little Bear.