Polaris System - Polaris is a triple system consisting of a supergiant star and two...

Polaris System - Polaris is a triple system consisting of a supergiant star and two dwarf stars. It is a pulsating variable star, cepheide of low amplitude. This montage shows the polar star and constellations of the Little Bear and the Big Bear (left), Polaris A and his companion Polaris B seen by the Hubble Space Telescope (top right), and Polaris Ab photographed for the first time by the Hubble Space Telescope (bottom right). This sequence of images shows that the North Star, Polaris is really a triple star system. For the first time, the close companion of Polaris has been seen directly. The left frame shows Polaris's location very close to the position of Earth's north celestial pole in Ursa Minor (the Small Bear). The upper right image shows Polaris A and its distant companion Polaris B, as viewed by Hubble. They are separated by approximately 240 billion miles. Polaris B, the wide companion, is visible in small telescopes, and was first noticed by William Herschel in 1780. The close companion, Polaris Ab was known to exist from its gravitational tug on Polaris A, but has only been seen directly now using Hubble (lower right image). The companion is only 2 trillion miles from Polaris A. The triple system is 430 light - years away