celestial pole

Either of two diametrically opposite points at which imaginary extensions of the earth's rotational axis intersect the celestial sphere.

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

celestial pole

(Astronomy) either of the two points at which the earth's axis, extended to infinity, would intersect the celestial sphere. Sometimes shortened to: pole

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

celes′tial pole′

each of the two points in which the extended axis of the earth cuts the celestial sphere and about which the stars seem to revolve.

[1900–05]

celestial pole

Either of the points at which the extensions of the Earth's axis intersect the celestial sphere.

The American Heritage® Student Science Dictionary, Second Edition. Copyright © 2014 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

celestial pole - one of two points of intersection of the Earth's axis and the celestial sphere

pole

celestial point - a point in the heavens (on the celestial sphere)

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References in periodicals archive

In our most recent paper (Vondrak and Ron, 2017) we proposed a new method of determining the parameters (period T, Q-factor) of Free Core Nutation that is not part of the IAU 2000 model of nutation, and therefore present in observed celestial pole offsets (CPO).

NEW GFZ EFFECTIVE ANGULAR MOMENTUM EXCITATION FUNCTIONS AND THEIR IMPACT ON NUTATION

The south celestial pole can be found midway along the line joining Crux to Achernar.

Star charts for autumn: March 01 at 00:00, April 01 at 22:00, and May 01 at 20:00

The top edge of the gnomon (the pointy bit) needs to be aligned with the celestial pole for either type, so it's parallel to the Earth's axis.

A Sundial Wall: Sundials can be amazingly accurate, and beautiful, too

Polaris is an averagelooking star which just happens to appear close in the sky to the north celestial pole.

Big Dipper rising is sure sign of spring

Pole to celestial pole, through wind like desert sand, an adamantine

Why All the Cashiers at Total Wine Know Me by Name

3, in which the gnomon is once again pointing to the South Celestial pole, whose shadow is cast onto a plane inclined at 15 [degrees] to the horizon.

The Swallow Park sundials

Immediately above the celestial pole is the faint constellation of Camelopardalus which, despite being the eighteenth largest by area in the sky, contains no stars brighter than fourth magnitude.

Sky notes: 2013 December & 2014 January

This brings you close to Polaris, located just 2/3[degrees] from the north celestial pole. The constellations in the northern sky wheel around and around this point.

May: the springtime dipper on high: whenever spring flowers bloom, the big dipper floats over them at dusk

Like our counterparts in the southern hemisphere, we were driven to observe near the celestial pole; in our case, the North Celestial Pole (NCP) was the only part of the northern hemisphere sky available for round-the-clock observations.

The discovery of anomalous microwave emission

If you draw an imaginary line from Achernar to the Southern Cross, then the South Celestial Pole lies at about halfway along this line.

The sky