What is your favorite star?

Michel Verheughe2013-03-24T10:00:26Z

I have sailed yachts as early as in the 1960s and sometimes with a sextant. My favourite star is then - of course - the stella polaris, the north star. Being nearly in the axis of the earth, it appears to be motionless in the night sky. It was the Babylonians who divides the circle into 360 degrees and the Phoenicians sailed the Mediterranean, finding their latitude by measuring the height of the north star over the horizon, using the Babylonian degree. And still today, we say that we are e.g. at latitude 40 north where the north star can be seen 40 degrees over the horizon.

I don't think any other star has ever had such a place in the human history and, especially, the navigators.

DLM2013-03-24T07:49:15Z

Well, that depends on what you are looking for.

Without the Sun, I would not be around to list my favorite 'anything' ...so, right off the bat, I'm rather biased towards that star.

Albireo is one of the most sensational sights in small telescopes... so visually, that might be my 'favorite,' except the reasons for its attractiveness in small scopes is that it is actually a colorful 'pair,' and either component by itself would remove it from the list.

Cataclysmic Variables are fascinating objects, from a 'wow that behavior is cool' standpoint, but there's more than one of those, and I have no single preference for one over another (once again, these objects are the result of a pairing).

There are many other options, depending on how you would 'weigh' certain criteria for what makes something a favorite... and most stars that are on the list, are on it because of their interactions with other objects (sometimes other stars), or how they appear through optics as seen from Earth.

Since none of them have real 'personalities' (unless you get rather metaphorical) it is difficult to name one that is your favorite for the reasons one might select a 'best friend.'

On a side note, Zubenelgenubi, by far, has the coolest name.

Fazil Grt2013-03-24T10:04:49Z

James bond

E = Mc²2013-03-24T10:13:56Z

The sun considering that is supports on life on Earth.

Anonymous2013-03-25T15:29:20Z

the one in the sky :3

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