Star profile
24 Ursae Minoris
Northern polar starWhat is 24 Ursae Minoris
24 Ursae Minoris burns some 153 light-years away, a white A-type star set into the body of the Lesser Bear, a step from Polaris. Because of its northern circumpolar position it never sinks below the horizon for European skies: it wheels slowly, night after night, around the axis of the world. Its light set out deep in the nineteenth century —the years helium was identified in the solar spectrum— and only now completes the journey.
Where it is and when to see it
24 Ursae Minoris 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.
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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
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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 24 Ursae Minoris
- Constellation
- Ursa Minor
- Apparent magnitude
- 5.78
- Distance
- 152.9 light years
- Coordinates (J2000)
- RA 262.696° · Dec 86.968°
- Catalogue
- HIP 85699 · HD 166926
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.
- PolarisAlpha Ursae Minoris1.97
- KochabBeta Ursae Minoris2.07
- PherkadGamma Ursae Minoris3.00
- HIP 765195.65
- HIP 786615.73
- HIP 847695.74
- HIP 655365.82
- HIP 669035.91