As part of the Big Dipper, the seven brightest stars in Ursa Major, Alkaid — or Eta Ursae Majoris — holds a place across many cultures as an indicator of North.
The star’s right ascension and declination: RA(h)= 13:47:32.4, Dec(deg = 49:18:48
The star’s apparent brightness, expressed as a magnitude: 1.852
I used SIMBAD to find the basic information about Alkaid. I used two websites to find out a little about the history of Alkaid:
http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Gazetteer/Topics/astronomy/_Texts/secondary/ALLSTA/home.html
Basic Information
Alkaid, the Arabic name for the star, means leader, which refers to its place within the mourning maidens (the stars in the handle of the Big Dipper). Samuel Butler, a 17th Century poet and satirist, referred to Alkaid in his most well known poem, Hudibras:
Cardan believ'd great states depend
Upon the tip o' th' Bear's tail's end;
That, as she whisk'd it t'wards the Sun,
Strew'd mighty empires up and down;
Which others say must needs be false,
Because your true bears have no tails.
