In 3000 B.C., the faint star of Thuban, in the constellation of Draco, used to be the North Star at a magnitude of 3.67, but it was only one fifth as bright as our present northern pole star. Come 3000 A.D., Gamma Cephei (aka Alrai), a star that currently sits forty five lig...
for instance, Thuban in the constellation Draco was the ‘north star’, and though Polaris was close enough to the north celestial pole to navigate by, it didn’t actually “arrive” in position until the 5th or 6th Century. As it stands, Polaris will be our closest marker until around 3...