Star of the North: An explosive thriller set in North Korea

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Polaris hasn’t been the only North Star—and thousands of years from now, other stars will take its place. In this article, I’ll explain how to find the North Star is in the night sky and some interesting facts about Earth’s pole star. The North Star: Polaris Polaris Aa, the supergiant primary component, is a low-amplitude Population I classical Cepheid variable, although it was once thought to be a type II Cepheid due to its high galactic latitude. Cepheids constitute an important standard candle for determining distance, so Polaris, as the closest such star, [11] is heavily studied. The variability of Polaris had been suspected since 1852; this variation was confirmed by Ejnar Hertzsprung in 1911. [28] The single point of light that we see as Polaris is a triple star system, or three stars orbiting a common center of mass. The primary star, Polaris A, is a supergiant with about six times the mass of our sun. A close companion, Polaris Ab, orbits 2 billion miles from Polaris. You are unlikely to ever see this star, because it is too close to Polaris.

A remarkable story about the most opaque country on Earth… Star of the North would be a superior thriller even if it was pure fiction.”— Booklist (starred review) The Plough’s reliably in the sky every night, though it changes its position depending on the time of year, and the time of night, we look.Polaris hasn’t always been the North Star and won’t remain the North Star forever. For example, a famous star called Thuban, in the constellation Draco the Dragon, was the North Star when the Egyptians built the pyramids. The NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been able to photograph the close companion of Polaris for the first time.”– Center for Astrophysics. The dark in their small town is deep and all-encompassing; a very welcome change from the light-polluted and washed-out skies of my over-lit railroad town. Meeus, J. (1990). "Polaris and the North Pole". Journal of the British Astronomical Association. 100: 212. Bibcode: 1990JBAA..100..212M. The range of brightness of Polaris is given as 1.86–2.13, [4] but the amplitude has changed since discovery. Prior to 1963, the amplitude was over 0.1 magnitude and was very gradually decreasing. After 1966, it very rapidly decreased until it was less than 0.05 magnitude; since then, it has erratically varied near that range. It has been reported that the amplitude is now increasing again, a reversal not seen in any other Cepheid. [6] Polaris and its surrounding integrated flux nebula

Evans, N. R.; etal. (2018). "The Orbit of the Close Companion of Polaris: Hubble Space Telescope Imaging, 2007 to 2014". The Astrophysical Journal. 863 (2): 187. arXiv: 1807.06115. Bibcode: 2018ApJ...863..187E. doi: 10.3847/1538-4357/aad410. S2CID 119392532. In a dark country sky, even when the full moon obscures a good deal of the starry heavens, the North Star is relatively easy to see. That fact has made this star a boon to travelers throughout the Northern Hemisphere, both over land and sea. So finding Polaris means you know the direction north.Evans, Nancy Remage; Guinan, Edward; Engle, Scott; Wolk, Scott J.; Schlegel, Eric; Mason, Brian D.; Karovska, Margarita; Spitzbart, Bradley (2010). "Chandra Observation of Polaris: Census of Low-mass Companions". The Astronomical Journal. 139 (5): 1968. Bibcode: 2010AJ....139.1968E. doi: 10.1088/0004-6256/139/5/1968. Roemer, Elizabeth (May 1965). "Orbital Motion of Alpha Ursae Minoris from Radial Velocities". Astrophysical Journal. 141: 1415. Bibcode: 1965ApJ...141.1415R. doi: 10.1086/148230. If you can find Polaris, the North Star, you can find north. Sailors have used the stars to navigate their way for centuries. Credit: Samuli Vainionpää / Getty What is the North Star?

For example, in London, which is at about 51° north latitude, we can see Polaris about 51° above the horizon. Gemma Frisius, writing in 1547, referred to it as stella illa quae polaris dicitur ("that star which is called 'polar'"), placing it 3° 8' from the celestial pole. [40]That’s all there is to it, and once we find it, we’re on our way!East is to our right, west to the left, and south is behind us. a b Neilson, H. R.; Engle, S. G.; Guinan, E.; Langer, N.; Wasatonic, R. P.; Williams, D. B. (2012). "The Period Change of the Cepheid Polaris Suggests Enhanced Mass Loss". The Astrophysical Journal. 745 (2): L32. arXiv: 1201.0761. Bibcode: 2012ApJ...745L..32N. doi: 10.1088/2041-8205/745/2/L32. S2CID 118625176. In about 3000 years, the star Gamma Cephei will be the new North Star. Around the year 14,000 CE, our North Pole will point to the star Vega in the constellation Lyra, which would be the North Star of our future descendants. Don’t feel bad for Polaris, as it will once again become the North Star after 26,000 more years! The North Star In Navigation

It is estimated that Polaris’ distance is roughly 430 light years away. The single point of light that we see as Polaris is actually a triple star system; three stars orbiting a common center of mass. Kamper, Karl W. (June 1996). "Polaris Today". Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. 90: 140. Bibcode: 1996JRASC..90..140K. In fact, the ancient Egyptians in the Old Kingdom saw the star Thuban in the constellation Draco as their North Star, instead of Polaris. Around 400 BCE, at the time of Plato, Kochab was the North Star. Polaris seems to have been first charted by astronomer Claudius Ptolemy in 169 CE. At present, Polaris is the star nearest to the North Pole, though it was farther from it during Shakespeare’s time.Polaris belongs to the constellation of Ursa Minor, which consists of stars that make up the Little Dipper. It marks the end of the handle of the Little Dipper, whose stars are much fainter compared to those of the Big Dipper. Meanwhile, there is no visible star marking the celestial pole in the Southern Hemisphere. What’s more, the Southern Hemisphere won’t see a pole star appreciably close to the south celestial pole for another 2,000 years. Trusting Polaris with their lives An informed look at the oppression, corruption, and widespread suffering under Kim Jong-il.” — Kirkus