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                           Astronomy Picture of the Day   
      
       Discover the cosmos! Each day a different image or photograph of our   
         fascinating universe is featured, along with a brief explanation   
                       written by a professional astronomer.   
      
                                  2025 January 14   
       A bright star is pictured in the center of field filled with glowing   
       gas and dust and other, more faint, stars. Please see the explanation   
                          for more detailed information.   
      
                     North Star: Polaris and Surrounding Dust   
                     Image Credit & Copyright: Davide Coverta   
      
      Explanation: Why is Polaris called the North Star? First, Polaris is   
      the nearest bright star toward the north spin axis of the Earth.   
      Therefore, as the Earth turns, stars appear to revolve around Polaris,   
      but Polaris itself always stays in the same northerly direction --   
      making it the North Star. Since no bright star is near the south spin   
      axis of the Earth, there is currently no bright South Star. Thousands   
      of years ago, Earth's spin axis pointed in a slightly different   
      direction so that Vega was the North Star. Although Polaris is not the   
      brightest star on the sky, it is easily located because it is nearly   
      aligned with two stars in the cup of the Big Dipper. Polaris is near   
      the center of the five-degree wide featured image, a digital composite   
      of hundreds of exposures that brings out faint gas and dust of the   
      Integrated Flux Nebula (IFN) all over the frame. The surface of Cepheid   
      Polaris slowly pulsates, causing the famous star to change its   
      brightness by a few percent over the course of a few days.   
      
           Today: Zoom APOD Lecture hosted by the Amateur Astronomers of   
                              Association of New York   
                         Tomorrow's picture: north nebula   
        __________________________________________________________________   
      
          Authors & editors: Robert Nemiroff (MTU) & Jerry Bonnell (UMCP)   
               NASA Official: Amber Straughn Specific rights apply.   
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                         A service of: ASD at NASA / GSFC,   
                              NASA Science Activation   
                                & Michigan Tech. U.   
      
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