Why does the north star always stay to the north?

Question

How come the star never changes? The whole sky moves but not the north star???? I don't undterstand?

Answer 1

The stars appear to move because the earth spins. Same way the sun crosses the sky. Polaris doesn't appear to move because it is within 1 degree of the axis of the earth. Hope this helped!

Answer 2

Yes and no. The north star is in "about" the same relative position in the sky and it can be a "guide" for boats. With today's sophisticated equipment, I wouldn't want to rely on the North Star for navigation. The no part of the question is that the earth spins on it's axis, and it has a "wobble" to it. Thousands of years ago, the North Star wasn't the North star, and in a few thousand years it won't be again. In human terms the answer is yes, but in cosmic terms then the answer is no. By the way, I'm not an astronomer or a science kinda guy, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn express once. :)

Answer 3

Imagine a string going from the north star through the earth. The earth spins on that string. If you are on the surface of the earth looking up the string, the north star would be the only one that doesn't move. All the others appear to go in concentric circles around it, as the earth turns.

That string is called the earth's polar axis. Polaris' apparent position never changes because it is on the axis of rotation.

Answer 4

It's because as our Earth rotates on its axis, that axis is always pointed in one direction, no matter where in our orbit around the sun we are.
And it just so happens that Polaris (the North Star) is the star in the sky that is very close to where our axis points. So that star doesn't change position much (it does change a little, but it's such a small difference most people don't notice it).

Answer 5

Now to make you even smarter:

The North Star hasn't been the North Star forever. Actually, there is a little drift and wobble, so the North Star has been something other than Polaris in man's history. It does take centuries to change, though.

Answer 6

The sky isn't really moving. It is Earth rotating. It is spinning like a top, only more slowly. And the axis of the top is pointed at a star called polars. That is why we don't see it moving. Because the Earth's axis of rotation is pointed that way.

Answer 7

None of the stars move; you do. You are on the surface of a spinning sphere so it APPEARS stars are moving. The north star is directly "above" the north pole so the illusion we surface dwellers have is that it doesn't move.

Answer 8

Because it is almost exactly in line with the axis of Earth's rotation.

Actually, the sky is pretty much still, and would appear still if Earth did not rotate. The movement you see is due almost completely to Earth spinning.

Do you have access to a globe?

Answer 9

it was named the north star coz it stays at north.

the star is exactly along the earths axis of rotationand thus appears that its not rotating...

Answer 10

if It didnt stay north it wouldnt be called the north star