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Polaris Dawn is an all-civilian mission, using a SpaceX Dragon capsule to set a record for highest orbit of Earth and perform the first commercial spacewalk.
Many people think Polaris is the brightest star, but it's only 48th in brightness. Still, Polaris is famous because the entire northern sky wheels around it.
Do you know how to find the North Star? The 2 outer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper point to the North Star, also known as Polaris. Give it a try!
Camelopardalis the Giraffe is a sprawling constellation made of dim stars that lies close the the north celestial pole. Northerners can see it all year long.
Polaris and Thuban have this in common: both reside, or have resided, at the apex of Earth's sky. That is, both are famous pole stars.
What a catch! This EarthSky community member caught the International Space Station (ISS) slicing across the night sky on May 17, 2021, passing Polaris, the North Star.
Use the Big Dipper to find Polaris, the North Star. Then notice the two stars Mizar and Alcor in the Big Dipper’s handle.
Comet Lovejoy on May 22, 2015. The comet is the brilliant green dot near the center of the photo. At the upper right of the photo is the star Polaris, aka the North Star.
Modern interpretations of the historical data indicate that Polaris could be as much as 4.6 times brighter than it appeared to some of the earliest astronomers.
Want to find Polaris, the North Star? The entire northern sky turns around it. If you can find the Big Dipper, you can always find Polaris.
Visible planets and night sky guide for July 2024. It’s summer meteor time! Follow these tips to optimize your chances of seeing a great meteor display.
Star trails are long-exposure photographs of stars taken as Earth turns, resulting in streaks of light across the sky. Here's how to photograph star trails.
The Delta Aquariids meteor shower rambles across the skies for weeks. Look for them from late July through early August. Your 2024 meteor shower guide here.
Hercules the Strongman is a great constellation to view in summer. With only a pair of binoculars you can see the globular cluster M13 in the Keystone.
Let your eyes and imagination drift to see the winding shape of Draco the Dragon. And meet Thuban, a former pole star, between the Big and Little Dippers.
A recurring nova in Corona Borealis - nicknamed Blaze Star - should appear bright enough to see with the unaided eye sometime in 2024.
The North Star is a symbol for constancy. But, a video of it overnight, reveals that it makes its own little circle around the sky's north pole every day.
How can you see both the Big and Little Dippers? On June evenings, the Big Dipper is high in the north. Let it be your guide to the Little Dipper.
Corona Borealis, the Northern Crown, is an almost-perfect semicircle of stars. In the northern summer of 2024, it might be home to a nova, or "new" star.
Arcturus is the brightest star north of the celestial equator. Near the handle of the Big Dipper, it's easy to find in spring in the Northern Hemisphere.