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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.   
      
                                   2023 April 11   
           A bright star is seen in field of dimmer stars and pervasive   
       light-brown dust. The star is the North Star: Polaris. Please see the   
                    explanation for more detailed information.   
      
                     North Star: Polaris and Surrounding Dust   
                      Image Credit & Copyright: Javier Zayaz   
      
      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 eight-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 as well as the globular   
      star cluster NGC 188 on the far left. 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.   
      
                   Explore Your Universe: Random APOD Generator   
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