We have all seen night after night, season after season that
one star in the north seems fixed in the sky. This is because the axis of earth
rotation passes in the same line and so the star appears stationary; we call
this star, pole star or Polaris. This star is the main star of constellation of Ursa Minor with
a magnitude of 2. From Bangalore it will be 13degrees in altitude, remember
that altitude of the pole star depends on latitude of the place. Here is a
chart of the Polaris.
Now every planet rotates on its axis, so what will be the
location of pole star for those planets in the solar system. Let’s begin with
Mercury the closest to Sun, the location of pole star will be in constellation of
Draco, the circle indicates the area where the Mercury pole star is located.
Venus:
We know that there is no way we can have an open sky to see the stars on Venus but based on
the orbit orientation of the planet we can say that the pole star will be in the constellation
of Draco. Here is the sky chart of the location for Venus pole star.
Mars:
The red planet we love to explore, we have seen the sunrise
and sunset taken by the landing probes and also transit of Mars moon across Sun’s
disk. If we were to find the pole star of Mars it will be in the constellation of Cygnus
close to star Deneb.
Jupiter:
The giant planet rotates fast taking only 9h55m
to complete one rotation, while all constellations and stars are moving at
dizzying speed one star in Draco will remain still, as the polar axis of Jupiter
lies in Draco constellation.
Saturn:
The ringed planet has its pole close to our own
pole star. Here is a chart on location of the pole star seen from Saturn.
Uranus:
This unique planet rotating with high axis angle
seems rotating on its belly. The pole star for this Planet would lie between
Taurus and Orion.
Neptune:
Last among outer “planets” is the planet Neptune
and it would have the pole star in the constellation of Cygnus.
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