Edward Robinson age 13 of Camden S.C.

 Why is there no south pole star?

We are lucky to have Polaris to point out the north directions For the stars are scattered helter skelter over the sky, Though there seem to be a lot of them most of the night sky is empty. black velvety space, It just so happens that there is a bright star almost directly above the earth's north pole. It would be expecting too much to have another bright star exactly above the earths south pole,

There is no visible star to point out the celestials or heavenly south pole. Mariners south of the equator use a constellation called the Southern Cross to point out the south direction. This beautiful group of stars can be,‑.: seen from Florida and southern Texas as well as all over the southern hemisphere. It is four bright stars arranged in a graceful cross. One of the brightest tips the northern arm and the other tips the foot of the starry cross.

These two stars are pointer stars, A line through them points out the south direction much as a line through the pointer stars in the Big Dapper points out the north direction. The line from the Big Dipper points toward Polaris. The line from the Southern Cross pointers ends in a patch of velvety space.

The sailor must figure the length of this imaginary line to figure the exact south direction, He measures sky distances in degrees. The distance from the Southern Cross to the celestial south pole is about 40 degrees'.  Columbia S.C. is plumb on latitude 34 degrees north. Hence Polaris over Columbia shines 34 degrees above the horizon. The south celestial pole, then, is a little further from its pointer stars than Polaris is above the horizon in your patch of sky.

North of the equators Polaris stands almost, though not quite. over the North Pole, Sailors need only adjust their figures a little to find the true north direction from our North Stars, However, this happy state of affairs is not permanent. The earth’s axis, which ends in the poles: wobbles a bit through the ages. This wobbling is called precessing.  It takes about 26000 years to complete each wobbly circle,

During that time sometimes the northern axis points to one part of the sky and sometimes to another, Several stars near the celestial north pole take turns at being the Pole Star. In the heyday of ancient Greece some 3000 years ago, the bright star Alpha in the Dragon constellation. was the Pole Star. In 14,000 A.D, the earths north pole will point directly at the beautiful star Vega in Lyra and Vega will become the North Pole star for a few thousand years. At that time, the dazzling Southern Cross will be seen all over the United States and even parts of Canada.