marble crystal
Polaris, our current North Star, lies just under degree from the North Celestial Pole. Although it is not the brightest star in the sky, its almost unvarying position in the sky means it has been used for centuries for navigation. Around 450 light years away, Polaris is actually a 3-star system, and the main star is a Cephied variable that slightly pulsates every four days. In this image, the pole around which our sky appears to rotate is just above and to the right of Polaris, about a third of the way to the edge of the image.
Behind Polaris lies a sea of thin dust and gas known as the integrated flux nebula -- lit by reflecting the light from all the stars in our galaxy behind us.
Due to the Earth's precession, our North celestial pole will gradually get closer to Polaris over the next 100 years or so, before continuing on towards the star Vega, which will become our new North star in around 12,000 years.
This is around 10.5 hours with my Samyang 135 and ZWO ASI 533 MC Pro. NEQ6/Homemade pier.
Full details and image here: https://www.astrobin.com/full/w7sqp3/0/?real=
