Pherkad

Gam

Variable star

Its story

Pherkad is one of the two 'Guardians of the Pole', celestial companion to Kochab as they watch over Polaris from Ursa Minor. White and variable, she lies 487 light-years away: her light departed when the Renaissance was flowering in Italian courts. The name comes from the Arabic «al-farqad», 'the calf'; with Kochab she formed the pair of small bovines grazing beside the axis of the world.

Constellation: Ursa Minor
Apparent magnitude: 3.00
Distance: 486.9 light years
Coordinates (J2000): RA 230.182° · Dec 71.834°
Catalogue: HIP 75097 · HD 137422

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