swap_horiz Polaris Alternatives

1

Rigel

Rigel is a brilliant blue supergiant star located within the constellation Orion. It’s notable for its extreme luminosit...

Blue Navigation Orion Supergiant

9.2 Excellent

2

Delta Cephei

Delta Cephei is a bright supergiant star within the Cepheus constellation. It’s notable as the original prototype for Ce...

Variable Supergiant Cepheus F Type

9.2 Excellent

3

Canopus

Canopus is a massive, white-yellow supergiant star located in the Carina constellation. It’s notable for being the secon...

Navigation Supergiant F Type Second Brightest

9.1 Excellent

4

Procyon

Procyon is the brightest star in Canis Minor and eighth brightest in the night sky, a binary system with a white dwarf c...

Bright Binary F Type Main Sequence

8.7 Great

5

Alnitak

Alnitak is the easternmost star in Orion's Belt, a multiple system dominated by a blue supergiant about 800 light-years...

Orion Multiple Supergiant Belt Star

8.7 Great

6

V838 Monocerotis

A red variable star in Monoceros that produced a spectacular eruption in January 2002, generating a light echo captured...

Supergiant Monoceros M Type Peculiar

8.7 Great

7

Naos

Naos (Zeta Puppis) is one of the hottest and most luminous stars visible to the naked eye, a blue O-type supergiant with...

Blue Supergiant Puppis O Type

8.6 Great

8

Methuselah Star (HD 140283)

A metal-poor subgiant ~190 light-years away in Libra with an estimated age near 13.7 billion years, making it one of the...

Oldest Known F Type Libra Subgiant

8.4 Great

9

W Virginis

W Virginis is the prototype of W Virginis variables (Type II Cepheids), population II pulsating stars that are older and...

Variable Supergiant Virgo F Type

8.2 Great

10

FU Orionis

FU Orionis is the prototype of FU Orionis outbursts, young pre-main-sequence stars that undergo dramatic accretion-drive...

Orion F Type Pre Main Sequence Young Star

8.2 Great

11

Xi Ursae Majoris

A quadruple star system ~27 light-years away in Ursa Major, historically significant as the first visual binary to have...

Historic Binary Ursa Major F Type

8.2 Great

12

HD 93129A

HD 93129A is one of the most massive and luminous O-type stars known, located in the Carina Nebula region and estimated...

Hot Supergiant Carinae O Type

8.1 Great

13

Rho Cassiopeiae

Rho Cassiopeiae is a yellow hypergiant in Cassiopeia, one of the most luminous stars in the galaxy, notable for a docume...

Yellow Cassiopeia Variable F Type

8.1 Great

14

Mirfak

Alpha Persei and brightest star in Perseus, a yellow-white supergiant roughly 590 light-years away and the gravitational...

Bright Cluster Supergiant Perseus

8.0 Great

15

Kochab

Kochab (Beta Ursae Minoris) is an orange giant in Ursa Minor that served as the northern pole star around 1500 BCE due t...

Orange Giant K Type Ursa Minor

8.0 Great

16

Epsilon Aurigae

A supergiant eclipsing binary in Auriga that undergoes a two-year-long eclipse every 27 years, with the eclipsing body i...

Supergiant Auriga F Type Long Period

8.0 Great

17

WASP-12

A yellow dwarf star ~870 light-years away hosting WASP-12b, a hot Jupiter being tidally disrupted and slowly consumed by...

Auriga F Type Hot Jupiter Main Sequence

8.0 Great

18

Wezen

Delta Canis Majoris, a yellow-white supergiant roughly 1,600 light-years away and among the most intrinsically luminous...

Yellow Luminous Supergiant F Type

7.9 Good

19

Porrima

Gamma Virginis, a binary system in Virgo comprising two nearly identical yellow-white stars about 38 light-years away, l...

Bright Binary Virgo F Type

7.9 Good

20

Tureis

Rho Puppis, a Delta Scuti pulsating variable star in Puppis roughly 120 light-years away, whose IAU-approved proper name...

Bright Yellow Supergiant Puppis

7.2 Good