Artist's concept of Polaris system
This is a view from within the Polaris triple star system. The North Star, Polaris A is a bright supergiant variable star.
Just above Polaris is a small companion, Polaris Ab, which is 2 billion miles (about 3.2 billion kilometres) from Polaris. Much farther away, near the top of the illustration, is the wide companion Polaris B. Polaris B is located approximately 240 billion miles (about 386 billion kilometres) from Polaris A. The two companion stars are the same temperature as Polaris A, but are dwarf stars.
Credit:About the Image
About the Object
Name: | Alpha Ursae Minoris, North Star, Polaris, Polaris A, Polaris B |
---|---|
Type: | Milky Way : Star : Evolutionary Stage : Main Sequence Milky Way : Star : Grouping : Triple |
Distance: | 400 light years |
Category: | Stars |