Re: HOw big is Polaris? is it bigger than the sun?

Date: Sun Oct 22 00:13:30 2000
Posted By: Irene Little, Faculty, CASA, University of Colorado
Area of science: Astronomy
ID: 971594460.As

Message:

Yes, you are right. Polaris is much bigger than the Sun. It is almost 100 times the diameter of the Sun. Astronomers call it a supergiant or bright giant. If it were part of our solar system, it would have swallowed up the planet Mercury.

It is a very interesting star since it varies a little bit in how bright it looks to us. We call it a Cepheid variable star. Polaris is also part of a double star system. That means that it has a companion that revolves around it.

References: Any Introductory Astronomy textbook has the information. I got the numbers out of Foundations of Astronomy by M. Seeds, 4th ed., p. 178

[You might also want to search through MadSci to find out how Cepheid variable stars are important for finding the distances to other galaxies. Moderator]

Current Queue | Current Queue for Astronomy | Astronomy archives

Try the links in the MadSci Library for more information on Astronomy.