The celestial poles are the points in the sky where the Earth's axis appears to intersect the "celestial sphere," the imaginary surface containing the stars. The stars in the night sky appear to orbit these points. The star that is closest to each celestial pole is typically known as a pole star. The current north pole star is Polaris, the "north star." The celestial pole drifts because the Earth's tilt changes gradually over tens of thousands of years, so Polaris has not always been the pole star, and it will not always continue to be.
2007-01-14 11:41:17
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answer #1
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answered by DavidK93 7
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they're directly aligned
the sky is mapped by extrapolating earth's latitude/longitude system out into the universe. latitude becomes declination, and longitude becomes right ascension (which is measured in hours instead of degrees, because the stars are fixed, and appear to move from east to west as earth rotates)
the north celestial pole has a declination of 90°, while the south is -90°. an observer at the north pole would see polaris (the star that almost exactly marks the NCP) at the zenith (the point directly above any particular location), while the SCP is a rather barren patch of sky in the constellation octans. at either terrestrial pole, the horizon is the celestial equator, and only half of the sky's stars are ever visible. those that can be seen do not set, those that cannot be seen do not rise
an observer at the equator, meanwhile, sees each celestial pole on the horizon, either due north or south, and the celestial equator stretches from due east, through the zenith, to due west. every star in the sky is observable, but only for half of the time
finally, there's the matter of earth's precession; that is, the wobble in the axis. over the course of i believe 22,000 years, the earth's poles point to different parts of the heavens, which causes all stellar coordinates to change. good star charts will be labeled 'epoch 1950', 'epoch 2000', etc., indicating when the measurements are most precise. five millenia ago, when the egyptians built the great pyramids at giza, the north star was thuban (also called alpha draconis, brightest star in draco) and the pyramids were aligned accordingly. continental drift has also misaligned them, but that's another answer!
2007-01-14 12:25:03
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answer #2
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answered by gylbertpenguin 2
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They are the points at which that axis 'enters' and 'exits' the earth.
You draw a straight line (axis) through a sphere (earth) and it hits at two points (North Pole and South Pole). If axis stuck out a bit at each end, there would really be poles there. :)
I now see that you threw the word celestial in there. A case of correct answer, wrong question.
2007-01-14 11:41:23
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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does not all of us do any of their very own homework anymore? Do you recognize which you will have got here upon the solutions to one and all of those in much less time that it took you to form it? And whilst and in case you do get solutions, how do you recognize they are ultimate? you will could verify, so which you basically wasted greater of your precious time. a million. advance the poles of Earth's axis into area. 2. the plain direction the sunlight makes in our sky in the path of the 12 months. Its tilted by way of fact the Earth is tilted to its orbital airplane. 3. 12. 4. too plenty to form right here - study up in this one on your text textile e book. 5. whilst the sunlight reaches is maximum northern (vernal) and maximum southern (autumnal) evaluate the sky. 6. The Earth wobbles because it rotates, as quickly as each 26,000 years or so. As we wobble, the celebs look farther north or south than they do as we communicate. 7. That hemisphere is tilted in direction of the sunlight - the days are longer and the nights are shorter. 8. It orbits the Earth - we see the moon by utilising the sunlight it reflects. 9. Umbra is the darkest section, penumbra isn't as dark. 10. Lunar eclipses - seen over 0.5 the planet on the time, they final longer and ensue greater regularly. 11. bounce years ensue each 4 years (in years that are divisible by utilising 4). This exchange right into a bounce 12 months, so upload 4 to get the subsequent bounce 12 months. 12. photograph voltaic eclipses ensue whilst the moon is between the Earth and the sunlight. Lunar eclipses ensue whilst the moon is on the different ingredient of the Earth from the sunlight - you may ensure which stages those are. 13. No. definite. None of those are frustrating (I found out those in grade 3).
2016-12-16 04:45:42
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answer #4
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answered by Anonymous
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