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Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BCE and will be so again around the year 13,727, when its declination will be +86° 14′. [19] Vega was the first star other than the Sun to have its image and spectrum photographed. [20] [21] It was one of the first stars whose distance was estimated through parallax measurements.
Vega is also special because it used to be the North Pole star around 12000 B.C.E. and will be again around the year 13727. Astronomers have studied changes in Earth's axial tilt (also called axial precession) to determine that Polaris has not always been the pole star — but Vega was once and will be again.
Jan 20, 2020 · Right now, the North Star is Polaris, but Vega was the northern pole star around 12,000 BC and will the pole star again about the 13,727. If you took a long exposure photograph of the northern sky today, the stars would appear as trails around Polaris. When Vega is the pole star, a long exposure photograph would show stars circling it.
- Anne Marie Helmenstine, Ph.D.
- Locating Vega
- Early Observations
- Vega in Recent Years
Vega is almost directly overhead at midnorthern latitudes on midsummer nights. Vega sinks below the horizon for only 7 hours a day and can be seen on any night of the year. Farther south, Vega lies below the horizon for a longer period, but in Alaska, northern Canada and much of Europe, Vega never sets. The star's location is: 1. Right ascension: 1...
Because Vega's blue-white light is so bright — the star has an apparent magnitude of 0.03 — it features prominently in ancient cultures, ranging from the Chinese to the Polynesians to the Hindus. Vega's name comes from the Arabic word "waqi," which means "falling" or "swooping." "This is a reference to the time when people regarded the constellatio...
Vega rose to prominence in popular culture in the late 1990s after Carl Sagan's novel "Contact" (1985, Simon & Schuster) was adapted into a Hollywood movie. Starring Jodie Foster, the movie followed an astronomer working on the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) who discovers a signal appearing to emanate from Vega. Telescopic observat...
Jan 8, 2020 · It was the northern pole star until 12.000 BC, this led to its great importance for ancient civilizations, and astronomers termed it “the second most important star, after the Sun.”. It is the second star to be photographed, and the first to have its spectrum recorded. It was photographed in 1850. Vega is only 25 light-years away from the Sun.
Sep 7, 2022 · Due to precession, it will replace Polaris as the northern polestar around 13,700 AD. Vega is also approaching Earth and will make its closest approach in about 264,000 years at a distance of 13.2 light-years. Stellarium. Back in 12,000 BC, Vega was the Pole Star and will be again around AD 13,700.
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Nov 5, 2023 · Vega was the North Pole star – the nearest visible star to the north celestial pole – around 12000 BCE and will be again around 13700 CE, when precession of the equinoxes takes it within 5° of true north. It was and will be the Earth’s brightest North Star.