δ Doradus (often Latinised to Delta Doradus, abbreviated to δ Dor or delta Dor) is a star in the southern constellation of Dorado. Based upon an annual parallax shift of 21.80 mas as seen from Earth, it is located around 150 light years from the Sun. The star is visible to the naked eye with an apparent visual magnitude of +4.34.[2]
Currently this star is the Moon's south pole star, which occurs once every 18.6 years.[13] The pole star status changes periodically, because of the precession of the Moon's rotational axis. When δ Doradus is the pole star, it is better aligned than Earth's Polaris (α Ursae Minoris), but much fainter. It is also the south pole star of Jupiter.[citation needed]
^ abcdDavid, Trevor J.; Hillenbrand, Lynne A. (2015), "The Ages of Early-Type Stars: Strömgren Photometric Methods Calibrated, Validated, Tested, and Applied to Hosts and Prospective Hosts of Directly Imaged Exoplanets", The Astrophysical Journal, 804 (2): 146, arXiv:1501.03154, Bibcode:2015ApJ...804..146D, doi:10.1088/0004-637X/804/2/146, S2CID33401607.
^Patrick Moore (1983), The Guinness Book of Astronomy Facts & Feats, p. 29, In 1968 the north pole star of the Moon was Omega Draconis; by 1977 it was 36 Draconis. The south pole star is Delta Doradus.