Polaris has been the North Pole star for more than 2,000 years, and it will remain so until the year 14,000, when Vega, a much brighter star will replace it since Earth’s northern axis will begin to move away from it. It is a variable star, being around 2,900 times brighter than our Sun, holding the 50 th position among the brightest stars in the night sky. Polaris has 540% of our Sun’s mass, and it is overall around 50 times bigger than our Sun. The primary star, Polaris Aa, is a yellow supergiant located at around 433 light-years away from Earth. The star system has an apparent magnitude of 1.98. Polaris, designated as Alpha Ursae Minoris, is a triple star system, and currently, it is our North Star or Pole Star, being the closest star to the north celestial pole. The constellation of Ursa Minor hosts several important stars, such as Polaris, the current north pole star, or the seven stars that form the Little Dipper asterism. Ursa Minor belongs to the Ursa Major family of constellations, along with Coma Berenices, Bootes, Camelopardalis, Canes Venatici, Corona Borealis, Draco, Leo Minor, Lynx, and Ursa Major. The neighboring constellations around Ursa Minor are Camelopardalis, Cepheus, and Draco. Right Ascension: 08 h 41.4 m to 22 h 54.0 m. Ursa Minor is located in the third quadrant of the northern hemisphere (NQ3). The constellation has been traditionally important for navigation, particularly by mariners. Ursa Minor is easy to spot since it hosts the north pole star. Ursa Minor spreads out for over 256 square degrees. The constellation of Ursa Minor is the 56 th largest constellation in the sky. In classical antiquity, the celestial pole was closer to Kochab, the second brightest star of Ursa Minor, rather than Polaris, and the entire constellation was taken to indicate the northern direction. Ursa Minor is listed in the MUL.APIN catalog, compiled around 1000 BC, among the “Stars of Enlil” – the northern sky. Among the earliest records of it belongs to the Babylonian star catalogs, where it was known as the “Wagon of Heaven” - .AN.NA – who is also associated with the goddess Damkina. The constellation of Ursa Minor is among the oldest constellations in the sky. The Ursids meteor shower is associated with Ursa Minor.Currently, around 4 stars have been discovered to host planets in Ursa Minor.The constellation of Ursa Minor hosts several interesting deep-sky objects, such as the Ursa Minor Dwarf Galaxy, the active supergiant elliptical radio galaxy NGC 6251, or the closest NGC object to the North Celestial Pole, the NGC 3172 galaxy.To find the North Pole Star – Polaris – one can use the stars Dubhe and Merak – which are part of the Big Dipper asterism – as pointer stars.There are no Messier objects present in the constellation of Ursa Minor.The Little Dipper asterism is comprised out of the seven brightest stars in Ursa Minor, namely Polaris, Yildun, Epsilon Ursae Minoris, Anwar al Farkadain, Akhfa al Farkadain, Pherkad, and Kochab.The Little Dipper asterism can be seen as the handle of a ladle, hence the North American name.
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