Without time lapse photography, how was it discovered that Polaris is the Pole Star?
First of all, Polaris has only recently been the Pole Star. At the time the Great Pyramid of Egypt built by the pharaoh Khufu ( Cheops) was being built, the star Thuban ( Alpha Draconis) was the Pole Star around 2300 – 3000 BC. Even by 1 AD, Polaris was so far from the North Celestial pole that its relationship to it was not compelling to the eye. By the time of the Vikings and the Mongols, however, it was within a few degrees of the pivot point for all the other stars and since then has shifted closer and closer to its present location. In 13,000 years from now, Vega will be the pole star, and then Thuban will return to the pole by 17,000 AD. Without time lapse photography which would record the circular paths of the stars about the north celestial pole, it is a bit more difficult to notice where the pivot point is, but if you keep careful track of how the stars are moving in the sky over the course of a few hours, you will notice that they move through smaller and smaller arcs the cl
