The real name of the **Pole Star** is **Polaris**. It is the brightest star in the constellation **Ursa Minor** and is located nearly in line with the Earth's rotational axis, making it appear almost stationary in the sky while other stars seem to rotate around it.
Polaris is part of a multiple star system, with the main star being a supergiant classified as **Polaris A**, and it has two companion stars, **Polaris B** and **Polaris Ab**.
### Why is Polaris called the Pole Star?
Polaris is currently positioned close to the **north celestial pole**, which is the point in the sky that the Earth's axis points toward in the Northern Hemisphere. As a result, Polaris has been used for centuries by navigators to find the direction of true north.
However, due to the Earth's axial precession (a slow, gradual shift of the Earth's axis), the star that occupies the position of the Pole Star changes over thousands of years. For instance, **Thuban** in the constellation **Draco** was the Pole Star around 4,000 years ago, and in about 12,000 years, **Vega** from the constellation **Lyra** will take Polaris's place.