a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Evans, N. R.; Schaefer, G. H.; Bond, H. E.; Bono, G.; Karovska, M.; Nelan, E.; Sasselov, D.; Mason, B. D. (2008). "Direct Detection of the Close Companion of Polaris with The Hubble Space Telescope". The Astronomical Journal. 136 (3): 1137. arXiv: 0806.4904. Bibcode: 2008AJ....136.1137E. doi: 10.1088/0004-6256/136/3/1137. S2CID 16966094.

The North Star is located in the constellation Ursa Minor. It’s not exactly at the North celestial pole, but about 0.65° away, so it actually moves a little bit. The star makes a small circle about 1.3° in diameter around the North celestial pole, though it still appears motionless to the unaided eye. The North Star always points due north, but depending on your latitude, its position in the sky will be higher or lower, and it will disappear from view when you reach the Southern Hemisphere. How to find the North Star from the Big Dipper? Polaris Aa, the supergiant primary component, is a low-amplitude Population I classical Cepheid variable, although it was once thought to be a type II Cepheid due to its high galactic latitude. Cepheids constitute an important standard candle for determining distance, so Polaris, as the closest such star, [11] is heavily studied. The variability of Polaris had been suspected since 1852; this variation was confirmed by Ejnar Hertzsprung in 1911. [28]Polaris lies at the end of the handle in the Little Dipper and can also be located by finding the Big Dipper, Ursa Major. A superior thriller, deftly plotted and richly human, steeped in the intrigue, culture and family of a closed regime, both terrifying and upliftingly emotional. It delivers on all fronts.” - Andrew Gross, New York Times bestselling author of The One Man a b c d e f g Van Leeuwen, F. (2007). "Validation of the new Hipparcos reduction". Astronomy and Astrophysics. 474 (2): 653–664. arXiv: 0708.1752. Bibcode: 2007A&A...474..653V. doi: 10.1051/0004-6361:20078357. S2CID 18759600. a b Neilson, H. R.; Engle, S. G.; Guinan, E.; Langer, N.; Wasatonic, R. P.; Williams, D. B. (2012). "The Period Change of the Cepheid Polaris Suggests Enhanced Mass Loss". The Astrophysical Journal. 745 (2): L32. arXiv: 1201.0761. Bibcode: 2012ApJ...745L..32N. doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/745/2/L32. S2CID 118625176.

Thank you to Crown Publishing and NetGalley who provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. In 2016, the International Astronomical Union organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) [41] to catalog and standardize proper names for stars. The WGSN's first bulletin of July 2016 [42] included a table of the first two batches of names approved by the WGSN; which included Polaris for the star α Ursae Minoris Aa. Its name in traditional pre-Islamic Arab astronomy was al-Judayy الجدي ("the kid", in the sense of a juvenile goat ["le Chevreau"] in Description des Etoiles fixes), [48] and that name was used in medieval Islamic astronomy as well. [49] [50] In those times, it was not yet as close to the north celestial pole as it is now, and used to rotate around the pole. In traditional Lakota star knowledge, Polaris is named "Wičháȟpi owáŋžila". This translates to "The Star that Sits Still". This name comes from a Lakota story in which he married Tapun San Win "Red Cheeked Woman". However she fell from the heavens, and in his grief he stared down from "waŋkátu" (the above land) forever. [52]In this article, I’ll explain how to find the North Star is in the night sky and some interesting facts about Earth’s pole star. The North Star: Polaris The North Star is called that because its location is almost exactly above the North Pole. In astronomy, this point in space is called the north celestial pole, which also aligns with the Earth’s axis. As the Earth spins on its axis, all stars seem to circle around this point, while the North Star appears fixed.