hip-14844

Northern polar star

Its story

In Cepheus, almost within reach of the celestial pole, glows a white type-A star, hotter than the Sun and of cutting light. Its brightness has been on the road for 203 years: it set off in 1822, the very year Champollion deciphered the Egyptian hieroglyphs by leaning on the Rosetta Stone. A lucid flame, fixed in the north, where the sky scarcely moves.

Constellation: Cepheus
Apparent magnitude: 5.92
Distance: 202.9 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 47.928° · Dec 81.471°
Catalogue: HIP 14844 · HD 18778

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Symbolic commemorative gift — no ownership, no IAU recognition.