It is a star called Polaris. It is not a particularly bright star. It is important though. As seen from the Northern Hemisphere, it is normally seen to be in the same location and all other stars appear to rotate around that point.
Exactly what do you mean by this? I don't know. But Harriet did not lead the slaves to any star. She led them through an underground railroad.
The low star in the northwest sky is likely the North Star, also known as Polaris. Polaris is located almost exactly at the north celestial pole and serves as a reliable marker for navigational purposes.
That's a star that is less than one degree of the sky's north pole - that is, it is almost in the direction of Earth's axis of rotation. As a result, while the Earth spins, the North Star stays almost exactly in the same direction.
Polaris, otherwise known as the pole star or the north star, is very close to being straight up from the north pole. If you were standing right at the north pole, Polaris would be almost exactly at your zenith-- straight up.
Polaris is called the north star because it is directly above Earth's north pole. So, if you find Polaris in the sky, that direction is north. Actually, Polaris is very close, but not exactly in line with the north pole. It is off by about 0.7 degrees.
Thuban, also known as Alpha Draconis, was once the northern polar star around 2700 BC. This star was closest to the point in the sky around which the entire northern sky appeared to rotate due to Earth's axial precession.
Polaris is more commonly known as the North Star or Pole Star because its position in the northern night sky almost exactly marks the Earth's geographic north pole.
The star "Polaris" is the North Star.
Northville, MI is at 42 degrees, 26 minutes North. The altitude of the North Star is between 42 degrees and 43 degrees, depending on the time. (Polaris isn't exactly at the North Pole; it is about 1/2 degree off.)
Unlike the North Pole, where the "North Star" Polaris is within a half-degree of being exactly north, there is no "South Star"; there are no naked-eye visible stars close to the South Pole. About the closest you can find is the Southern Cross, which points to the south pole without being right over it.
Alaska is exactly north of Hawaii.
The North Star is visible from any place in the northern hemisphere on a clear night.As its name implies, it is always seen due north of the observer, almost exactly at apoint in the sky called the "North Celestial Pole", from which it never appears to move.Its angle above the northern horizon is almost exactly equal to the observer's latitude,which is about 24.5 degrees at Key West, and about 30 degrees at Jacksonville.