North Ecliptic Pole


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North Ecliptic Pole

 

one of the two points of intersection of the celestial sphere with a line perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic and passing through the center of the celestial sphere. (The ecliptic is the great circle traced by the annual apparent motion of the center of the sun on the celestial sphere.) Located in the northern sky, in the constellation Draco, the north ecliptic pole has the following equatorial coordinates: right ascension α = 18h00m; declination δ = +66° 33′.

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By pointing each of the 12 ramps to a position of the north ecliptic pole corresponding to the time when that stairway's zodiac sign reached the highest point of its daily arc across the sky, Jai Singh aligned his scaled quadrants with appropriate sections of the ecliptic.
Stairway to the stars
Just off the line from Zeta to Delta ([Delta]) Draconis is the north ecliptic pole, marked quite accurately by the object on the cover of our April issue: the 9th-magnitude planetary nebula NGC 6543, known as the Cat's Eye Nebula.
The sky at summer's end
So the untiring dragon that once protected the apples of paradise now vigilantly embraces the north ecliptic pole and keeps it from migrating.
Pumping sky

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