Math Superstars

Answer: Earth rotates around a line called its axis. If you extend Earth's axis northward, all the way out into space, it will eventually come close to Polaris.

If you stand at Earth's North Pole, Polaris would be directly overhead. The bottom of your sky is a circle called the horizon. When you're at the North Pole, the horizon is perfectly lined up with Earth's equator.

Instead, if you stand at Earth's equator, the bottom of your sky, your horizon, would cut straight through Earth's axis. In this case, you would see Polaris pretty much on the horizon.

Round Rock is at roughly 30 degrees latitude. If you traveled from the equator to Round Rock, your sky would simply tilt 30 degrees. Polaris would thus be about 30 degrees up from the horizon in Round Rock.

But wait--what is the exact answer? I used words like roughly and about in my answer. Well, it depends! If you're at CRE, you'd be at 30.54137 degrees latitude. If you're at the Round Rock Public Library, you'd be at 30.51154 degrees latitude. So, it depends on exactly where in Round Rock you are!

But wait, there's more. Polaris isn't exactly aligned with Earth's axis. It's about half a degree off from the axis. So, Polaris actually spins about that point where Earth's axis intersects the sky all day and all night long.

Also, every 20,000 years, Earth's axis does a full revolution like a spinning top, which causes totally different stars to become the "North Star" at various times. So, the altitude of Polaris in the night sky really depends on the exact location and time!

In other words, the real answer is, I don't know! And yet, I was able to teach you something about math and astronomy. So maybe math isn't really about getting the right answer--it's about understanding the relationships between many different concepts that allows us to make the world a better place.

For any questions reach out to: math.superstars@crepta.org

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