images

South celestial pole star trails

by

David Malin Images/Novapix

Reference

a-pas01-10007

Date

2006-09-20

As the earth spins beneath the stars they appear to move across the sky from east to west. However, if one looks in the direction of the celestial poles, the stars appear to circle a single point on the sky. This is the position of the earth's axis of rotation projected into space. This picture was made from Siding Spring Observatory in Australia, so the pivotal point is 30 degrees above the northern horizon, which is the geographical latitude of Siding Spring. In the northern sky there is a bright star very close to the celestial pole. By contrast the region of the south celestial pole is barren.