A French "navisphere": a type of celestial globe formerly used for navigation at sea

A modern invention, the term South Star, also called southern pole star, refers to the star that happens to lie closest to the south celestial pole (SCP), and which appears (approximately) directly overhead to an observer at the Earth's South Pole. A pole star is a visible star especially a prominent one that is approximately aligned with the Earth 's Axis of rotation; that is a star whose apparent position A star is a massive luminous ball of plasma. The nearest star to Earth is the Sun, which is the source of most of the Energy on Earth The north and south celestial poles are the two imaginary points in the sky where the Earth's Axis of rotation, "infinitely extended" intersects the The South Pole, also known as the Geographic South Pole or Terrestrial South Pole, is the southernmost point on the surface of the Earth. At present, the naked-eye star nearest to this imaginary point is Sigma Octantis, whose angular separation from the pole is about 1° (as of 2000). The naked eye is a Figure of speech referring to human Visual perception that is unaided by enhancing equipment such as a Telescope or Sigma Octantis (σ Oct / σ Octantis is a magnitude 56 star in the constellation Octans most notable for being the current South Star. In Mathematics (in particular Geometry and Trigonometry) and all Natural sciences (including astronomy geophysics etc the angular distance 2000 ( MM) was a Leap year that started on Saturday of the Common Era, in accordance with the Gregorian calendar. Its apparent magnitude is a very faint 5. The apparent magnitude ( m) of a celestial body is a measure of its Brightness as seen by an observer on Earth, normalized to the value 45, and as such it is not very useful for general navigational purposes. Navigation is the process of reading and controlling the movement of a craft or vehicle from one place to another This is in contrast to the much brighter 2nd magnitude North Star, Polaris, which marks the approximate position of the north celestial pole. The North Star is the prominent Pole star that lies closest in the sky to the north celestial pole and which appears (approximately directly overhead to Polaris (α UMi / α Ursae Minoris / Alpha Ursae Minoris commonly North(ern Star or Pole Star, and sometimes Lodestar

Although the south celestial pole currently lacks a bright star like Polaris to mark its position, slow changes over time (due to the effects of precession) mean that other stars will become southern pole stars. Precession refers to a change in the direction of the axis of a rotating object For example, in the next 7500 years, the south celestial pole will pass close to the stars Gamma Chamaeleontis (4200 CE), I Carinae, Omega Carinae (5800 CE), Upsilon Carinae, Iota Carinae (Aspidiske, 8100 CE) and Delta Velorum (9200 CE). Chamaeleon ( Chameleon) is a minor southern Constellation. The constellation was one of twelve constellations created by Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and I Carinae (I Car is a Star in the Constellation Carina. It is a yellow-white F-type Subgiant with an Apparent magnitude Carina ( Keel) is a southern Constellation which forms part of the old constellation of Argo Navis. Iota Carinae (ι Car / ι Carinae is a Star in the Constellation Carina. Vela (ˈviːlə Sails) is a southern Constellation, one of the three parts into which Argo Navis was split (the others being Carina and

A similar concept applies to other planets; see Pole Star for details. A pole star is a visible star especially a prominent one that is approximately aligned with the Earth 's Axis of rotation; that is a star whose apparent position

See also

• Pole star
• Circumpolar star
• North star
• Celestial sphere
• Celestial pole
• Celestial equator
• Apparent magnitude
• Angular separation