In a PBS science show about the South Pole, it shows a time lapsed video of the sun's movement over a period

Question

of several hours. The sun actually moves across the sky sideways and not in a arc. It is true?

Answer 1

It's true. It drives you crazy. The sun is just making one big 24 hour circle in the sky. And since you are upside down, it moves the wrong way round, too.

Just think about standing below a large light and slowly turning around yourself. That's what you see.

Answer 2

At the South Pole, the sky rotates around the South Celestial Pole, which is straight up. The Sun moves at constant elevation around in a circle.

The Sun only moves across the sky in a "Great Circle" when it's on the Celestial Equator, that is, the first day of Spring and the first day of Autumn (this is true everywhere on Earth). On those days at the South Pole, the Sun is on the horizon for the whole day, and circles around the horizon.

Answer 3

Sideways *is* an arc. But yes, if you're at the pole, the whole sky moves parallel to the horizon, because the turning of the Earth is just turning you around in place.

Answer 4

It is. And, it must have been during the winter in the norhtern hemisphere, because that's the period of time that the sun never sets at the south pole.

Answer 5

At the south pole it is different...it is at the bottom axis of the earth and will spin sideways across the landscape.

Answer 6

Yes it is. Just imagine yourself standing on top of a globe that is spinning and it should be clear why this happens. It is like standing in the middle of a merry-go-round and looking at all the things around the merry-go-round zipping by.

Answer 7

During the antarctic summer, that is exactly what happens.