The North Star for Earth is Polaris, but does Mars have a North Star – a star located more or less above its north pole?

Here’s what makes Earth’s North Star so special. Every planet in our solar system spins on its axis. And if you continue the imaginary line of a planet’s axis out into space – in a northern direction as measured from earthly north – it might point to a star that’s visible to the eye. We call such a star a pole star, or North Star.

That’s the case on Earth. Earth’s North Star – which we call Polaris – is located nearly directly above Earth’s north pole. It’s known to scouts and stargazers for appearing in the northern sky every hour of the night, every night of the year. For us in Earth’s Northern Hemisphere, Polaris appears to remain fixed as the other stars wheel around it.

More about Polaris: The North Star

Meanwhile, Earth’s Southern Hemisphere doesn’t have a comparable South Star. The nearest visible star to the south celestial pole of Earth is about 9 degrees away.

So, does Mars have a North Star or South Star?

The answer is no. In the northern sky as seen from Mars, the best candidate is a star half a degree off from the pole – closer than Polaris is to Earth’s north celestial pole. But this star is faint – barely within the limit of visibility to the eye alone. Mars’ north pole points to a spot in the sky that’s about midway between Deneb, the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus the Swan, and Alderamin, the brightest star in the constellation Cepheus the King.

Meanwhile, in the southern sky as seen from Mars, Kappa Velorum – a fairly bright star in the constellation Vela – is near the martian south celestial pole at about three degrees away.

On the other hand, if you were standing outside at night on the surface of Mars, you’d see some other cool stuff! For example, as seen from Mars, you could see Earth’s moon orbiting around Earth once each month. From Earth, we can’t see any other planets’ satellites with the unaided eye, but this amazing sight on Mars would be visible to the eye alone. Both the Earth and the moon would appear starlike.

In general, the Earth as seen from Mars would somewhat mimic our view of Venus as seen from Earth. By that we mean that – like Venus in relationship to Earth – Earth in relationship to Mars is an inner planet. It orbits closer to the sun. Thus Earth as seen from Mars would be a morning or evening “star” – just as Venus is as seen from our world. And although both the Earth and moon would appear as stars to the unaided eye, observers on Mars with telescopes would sometimes see them as crescent worlds – just as we do Venus.

So … no North Star for Mars. But stargazers wouldn’t lack for things to see!