martian pole star

m~ray

martian pole stars same as earth pole stars ?

Jimmy

The Martian north celestial pole resides in the constellation Cygnus- near the border of Cepheus.
Unfortunately, the stars nearest the pole are too faint to be useful. The closet is approximately a half-degree away and is barely visible to the naked eye. The pole is close to the halfway point between Deneb in Cygnus and Alderamin in Cepheus-- the brightest stars in their respective constellations.

See the following image:


Edit:
Here are a couple of links for further information:
http://earthsky.org/space/mars-north-south-star
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrono...s_and_ecliptic

m~ray

my question was different.. your reply answers y mars doesn't have a good pole star.

Jimmy

While the axial tilts are similar in degree, Mars is tilted in a different direction. Earth is tilted so that its axis points toward Polaris. Mars' points toward Cygnus/Cepheus.

m~ray

thanks.

Jimmy

You're welcome.

Earth and Mars both undergo axial precession- they wobble like tops. Because of this, their celestial poles change over time. Earth goes through one precessional cycle every 26000 years and Mars' every 175,000 years. Because of that, it is possible that they share the same pole star from time to time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Precess...e_equinoxes.29

Dr_Morbius

Also, it is bad form to completely edit your posts to change their meaning. It creates confusion and makes it hard to figure out what's going on. Just add a new post that contains what you want to say.