While not one of the most conspicuous stars in the night sky, Alderamin – aka Alpha Cephei – is easy to spot, and is interesting for its rapid rotation on its axis.

Delta Cephei doubles in brightness on a precise schedule, every 5.36 days. Its brightness changes are tied to its absolute brightness. Learn how this star helped establish the known distance scale of our galaxy and universe.

It’s also sometimes called the autumn star for us in the Northern Hemisphere. In its large dark patch of sky, only Fomalhaut shines brightly. Here’s how to see it.

Altair is only 16.8 light-years from Earth, making it one of our closest stellar neighbors. At least 2 features of the star make it distinctive. For one thing, Altair needs only 10 hours to spin once on its axis, in contrast to roughly a month for our sun.

Although it’s not bright, 61 Cygni moves exceptionally rapidly against the background of more distant stars. Its motion reveals its nearness to Earth.

Albireo is known best for the striking color contrast between its two stars – the brighter gold star and the dimmer blue star.

Although some scientists claim stars can’t look green, many stargazers will swear that Zubeneschamali proves otherwise.

Now it’s Libra’s alpha star. But Zubenelgenubi is an Arabic name indicating that this star was once perceived as the Southern Claw of Scorpius the Scorpion.

Many people think Polaris is the sky’s brightest star. In fact, Polaris ranks only 50th in brightness. Still, Polaris is famous because the entire northern sky wheels around it.

Thuban was the Pole Star some 5,000 years ago, when the Egyptians were building the pyramids.

Canopus is the 2nd-brightest star in the sky, and it’s easy to spot on February evenings, if …