Imagery provided by Aladin sky atlas
The point where the handle and bowl of the Little Dipper meet is marked by the
fourth-magnitude star
Alifa al Farkadain. Less than a degree away in the sky is a slightly fainter
star, designated Theta, or 15, Ursae Minoris.
This is an orange giant
star close to the Northern Celestial Pole.
Intrinsically luminous, with an absolute magnitude
of -2.0, its distance from Earth (nearly eight hundred light years) makes it barely visible to the naked eye.
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