September's Stars are Kochab and Pherkad

This month look for two stars, Kochab and Pherkad. These stars are the called the Guardians of the Pole. Whom specifically are these stars guarding? Why it’s Polaris, the North Star. Kochab is the brightest of the pair and as bright as Polaris itself. Pherkad is one magnitude fainter and only 1/2.512 as bright. The pair is circumpolar in Idaho, like Polaris. That means they never set and never rise in our sky. The star pair is located on the opposite side of Ursa Minor, or what most casual stargazers call the Little Dipper. The stars of the Little Dipper located between the pair and Polaris are faint stars and require country skies to see.

Kochab is 130 light years away, meaning the light you see tonight left in the year 1886. Pherkad is over three times farther away at 480 light years. To be visible in our sky, they must be brighter, and therefore hotter, than our sun. Kochab is 500 times brighter than our sun and Pherkad is 1,100 times brighter.  

To find Kochab and Pherkad, find the Big Dipper and Polaris. Kochab and Pherkad are between them but not on a line with them. Kochab is the brighter and appears on the right side of the little dipper bowl and Pherkad is fainter and appears on the left side of the bowl.