Susan Parker, age 12, of North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, for her question:

WHAT IS THE NORTH STAR?

The North Star is also called Polaris or the polestar. Other stars in the sky seem to rotate around the North Star because of the earth's rotation on its axis. The North Star appears not to move because it lies on the axis.

You can locate the North Star by first finding the easy to spot Big Dipper. The two end stars that form the side of the cup away from the handle point directly to the bright North Star. The North Star is at the end of the handle in the constellation called the Little Dipper.

Mariners use the North Star to guide them in the Northern Hemisphere. It is about one degree from the north celestial pole. The distance will decrease to about one half degree within the next 100 years and then begin to increase.