Hubble image archive
Artist's Concept of Polaris System - Annotated
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 from Polaris. Much farther away, near the top of the illustration, is the wide...
- Date
- Jan 1, 2006
- Mission
- Hubble Space Telescope
- Archive ID
- hubblesite-images-2006-02-1845-image
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 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 from Polaris A. The two companion stars are the same temperature as Polaris A, but are dwarf stars. The wide companion star is visible in small telescopes. It was first noticed by William Herschel in 1780. The close companion, Polaris Ab was known to exist from measurements of a wobble in Polaris, caused by the gravitational tug of its companion, but has only been seen directly now using Hubble.
Credits
Credit: NASA, ESA, G. Bacon (STScI)Image Details
| About The Object | |
|---|---|
| Object Name | Polaris, Alpha Ursae Minoris, North Star |
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Source
Image and source material are credited to the official mission archive linked below.
View on NASA.gov