Polaris, the North Star

Everyone has heard of Polaris, or the North Star, but why is it actually so special? In this video, we answer that question, and look at what studying Polaris can teach us about our position on Earth.

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[cubworld]

"it can tell us about where we are right now, and about where we want to go." Beautifully stated!

[christianlorre]

You forgot to mention one thing. The ancient Greek word for bear is arkos. That's where we get the arctic from. You are in the area of the bear constellation.

[sachind]

In Hinduism, we call it Saptharishi mandala....we knew about it from our Vedic times...And Polaris was/is called DruvaNakshatra

[dwardmascarinasmascarinas]

North Star, This always been a part of my career as a seafarer ☝️🔥

[liamgarvey]

Since we are hurtling through space, how come Polaris holds its precise position, given we are all moving relative to each other and at different speeds, different masses etc. One would expect that no star would occupy a position like Polaris, but should move just like everything else? Can somebody explain why Polaris always holds it position?

[MyLady]

If the earth tilts and wobbles then how come Polaris never moves it’s position?

[Yazme]

From my country it's a alone star( there aren't many stars around it) that shines very brightly, so it's very easy to tell for me(:

[meskalin]

Just saw this star outside my window and it was really bright. Like top 10 ive seen.

[etkaterina]

First of all, shout out to our eyes for having the ability to see 433 Light-years away. I give thanks to Our Ancestors for laying down the foundation for All of Us to pick up where they left off.

[jamesbreeden]

If the earth is moving in 4 different directions simultaneously. Night and day, orbiting the Sun, the Sun orbiting the Galaxy and the legendary wobble. How does the Polaris star stay in the North Pole area year after year century after century with all of these movements?

[joeconrad]

1, 500, 000 light years away, and we see it with the naked eye 🤣

[favesongslist]

Surprised you did not mention that Polaris is not just a single star but is a triple star system. It just looks like a single point of light when viewed by our unaided 'naked' eyes.

[uriellevelupriley]

You can't see Polaris from the Southern hemisphere 💯✨💎✨ that's such a gem

[DeepakGupta-gslw]

Another extremely good video. Mr. Sammartano, you are doing a great service in educating people around the globe. Thank you so much.

[wiggles]

I came up with the same trick of using those 2 pointer stars from the Big Dipper on my own as well.

[TexasTimeLord]

Growing up, the song "Right Down the Line" by Gerry Rafferty was popular. He sings that the Northern Star is the "Brightest star that shines". It drove me nuts because I knew that was a lie. Nobody else cared though

[flanneloperator]

Also since its on the NP all the other stars rotate around it. Same with the southern star.
But you would have to be on Antarctica to see it.
Also just a note, you can't see it if you live south of the equator.
All in all, polaris is my favorite star.

[johnbull]

How does it manage to stay in the same spot considering we are on a spinning ball circling the sun
while at the same time chasing sun through the cosmos?

[mohamadm]

Thanks! great video but I noticed a calculation mistake at 00:58
Polaris is about 433 light years away from earth.
The speed of light is 300, 000 km/sec(186, 000 mile/sec), our fastest spaceship speed 8 km/sec(5 miles/sec), which means light is ABOUT 37, 200 times faster than our spaceship.
If it takes 433 years for the light to travel the whole distance, it would take us 433 multiplied by 37, 200. so approximately 16 million years!

[vicrencruz]

Ok but according to your big bang space theory the whole universe is spanding, at the same time the earth is a constant circuit around the sun, at the time i thought the earth tilted on its axis causing summer/winter equally on both hemispheres, surely there must been some change in position since it was first noticed thousands of years ago.