RA 230.1822° · Dec 71.8340° · star
21 more points to reach Anomaly.
Pherkad is an epic variable star. It lies about 486.8 light-years from Earth, sits in the constellation UMi, shines at apparent magnitude 3 and has spectral type A3II-III.
Its spectrum reads A3II-III — an A-type star: white-hot, typically about twice the Sun's mass, and the class most of the sky's famous bright stars belong to.
Look for Pherkad in the constellation UMi. At apparent magnitude 3, it can be glimpsed with the unaided eye under dark skies.
Like any astronomical target, Pherkad is best seen from a dark site away from city lights, and when it is above the horizon depends on your latitude and the time of year. The visibility panel above works out tonight's viewing window for your saved location.
Pherkad scores 57 points on Spacedle's rarity scale, which places it in the epic tier. Another 21 points would lift it into a rarer tier.
That score comes from 9 science badges — Variable star, Naked-eye visible, Has a proper name, Never sets (northern circumpolar), White A-type star, Bright giant, Intrinsically luminous (Mv < −2) and Barely variable (under 0.05 mag) — each earned for a real, measurable property of the object. Rarity on Spacedle is never random: the more remarkable an object's astrophysics, the more badges it collects, the higher it scores, and the rarer it ranks.