Laura Parks, age 11, of Haggerstown, Md., for her question:

WHAT IS CLEOPATRA'S NEEDLE?

There are two famous obelisks from ancient Egypt and each is called Cleopatra's Needle. One of them stands in Central Park in New York City and the other stands on the Thames Embankment in London. An obelisk is a tall stone pillar structure.

The Egyptian government presented the obelisks to the United States and England during the 1800s.

Cleopatra's Needles are actually misnamed. They have no connection with the Egyptian queen Cleopatra.

The pillars actually bear the names of two Egyptian kings: Thutmose III, who lived about 1500 B.C., and Ramses II, who lived about 1200 B.C. Cleopatra's,Needles originally stood before the Temple of the Sun in Heliopolis. The Romans moved them to Alexandria in 23 B.C.

The obelisk in New York City stands 69 feet high. The structure weighs 200 tons.