The polar star is one of the best known. It is located in the constellation of Ursa Major and super useful for find the North 🙂
How to locate the North Star
The North Star (or North Star) is located very close to the North Pole. Therefore, it is visible in the Northern hemisphere.
The North Star is about 433 light years away from Earth. This means that the light we see now came from it 433 years ago.
In any case, to find the famous star you must first find its constellation, which is called “Ursa Major” and is also one of the best known and easiest to find at night (as long as we are in the northern hemisphere). We have, of course, a specific orientation guide in the southern hemisphere as well.
The constellation “Ursa Major”
It is one of the brightest stars, and forms a 3-star constellation, imitating the tail of the bear:
This famous constellation has 3 very bright stars in a straight line, Alpha, Beta and Gamma, which make it very easy to find.
The Polar Star does not move and is always visible because it is located on the same axis as the Earth.
With this online compass you can locate North and the North Star quickly.
I clarify that the rest of the stars do not move either, but being closer to the Earth it seems that way. In reality, it is the Earth that revolves around the Sun.
In fact, I explain it to you in more depth in this post about solar orientation that you cannot miss. Shall we take a look at it!?
Why does it appear on maps?
The North Star is used on maps as a reference for orientation, since it is always in the same place in the sky. For this reason, it appears on many maps. Here I teach you how to orient yourself with a map.
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