Illustration of Thuban, Alpha Draconis, the North Pole star. The North Star has been used for navigation since Late Antiquity, both to find the direction of north and to determine latitude. Due to the precession of the equinoxes, the role of North Star passes from one star to another. In 3000 BC the faint star Thuban in the constellation Draco was the North Star. It was considered the pole star until about 1900 BC, when the much brighter Kochab began to approach the pole as well.