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Star profile

HIP 84769

Northern polar star
3D likeness based on its real data · class K · ~4,200 K

What is HIP 84769

In Ursa Minor, the constellation that wraps around the northern celestial pole, glows an orange giant whose light set out around 1066, the year of the Battle of Hastings. Cooler than the Sun and hundreds of times more luminous, its coppery tone rests near the axis about which the whole northern sky appears to turn. Nearly a thousand years of travel to meet our gaze.

Where it is and when to see it

HIP 84769 lies in the northern celestial hemisphere. It is visible to the naked eye under a dark sky. Its best month of the year is December: the Sun sits at the opposite point of the sky and the star culminates around midnight. How high it climbs above the horizon depends on the latitude you watch from.

Find it on the sky map

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The signature wall

Stelvia's sky works like a signature wall: anyone can leave their name and a message on a real star, and that signature goes up on the map for everyone to read. Signing is free.

A signature without a lock can be replaced by someone else's. The lock makes the signature permanent and lets you choose a symbolic name for the star, always shown next to the star's catalogue identifier. How the lock works

If you don't have an account yet, we'll ask for an email to confirm it's you: we send you a link and that's it, no password.

A public signature from a real person. The chosen name is a symbolic denomination within Stelvia, with no official standing or IAU recognition: the sky is not for sale and belongs to no one.

Astronomical data for HIP 84769

Constellation
Ursa Minor
Apparent magnitude
5.74
Distance
959.4 light years
Coordinates (J2000)
RA 259.904° · Dec 80.136°
Catalogue
HIP 84769 · HD 158996

A symbolic commemorative gift: neither the signature nor the chosen name implies ownership of the star or recognition by the IAU.

Other stars in Ursa Minor

Ursa Minor has 25 stars in Stelvia's catalogue. Here are a few of them.

See all 25 stars in Ursa Minor