Astronomy Picture of the Day Discover the cosmos!Each day a different image or photograph of our fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation written by a professional astronomer.2025 January 14 
North Star: Polaris and Surrounding Dust Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Coverta Explanation: Why is Polaris called the North Star?First, Polaris is the nearest bright star toward the north spin axis of the Earth. Therefore, as the Earth turns, stars appear to revolve around Polaris, but Polaris itself always stays in the same northerly direction -- making it the North Star. Since no bright star is near the south spin axis of the Earth, there is currently no bright South Star. Thousands of years ago, Earth's spin axis pointed in a slightly different direction so that Vega was the North Star. Although Polaris is not the brightest star on the sky, it is easily located because it is nearly aligned with two stars in the cup of the Big Dipper.Polaris is near the center of the five-degree wide featured image, a digital composite of hundreds of exposures that brings out faint gas and dust of the Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) all over the frame.The surface of Cepheid Polaris slowly pulsates, causing the famous star to change its brightness by a few percent over the course of a few days. Today: Zoom APOD Lecture hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of Association of New York Tomorrow's picture: north nebula <| Archive| Submissions | Index| Search| Calendar| RSS| Education| About APOD| Discuss| > Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff(MTU) &Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)NASA Official: Amber StraughnSpecific rights apply.NASA Web Privacy,Accessibility, Notices; A service of:ASD atNASA /GSFC, NASA Science Activation& Michigan Tech. U.
