Polaris won't always be our North Star
Some of you may be interested to know that the star Polaris, which is the tail star of the little dipper, won’t always be our North Star. In fact, the star called Vega was our north star some 14,000 years ago.
What’s this you say? Well, the earth rotates and wobbles as it makes it’s way around the sun and in turn, around the galaxy.
I decided to fire up Starry Night and run a simulation. The video you see here demonstrates how North, in celestial terms, changes over time.
You will see Polaris start off in the North position, then it will quickly spiral into chaos between the years AD 3,000 and AD 14,000. Vega is never as good a north star as Polaris is, and you can see this as Polaris returns to the North position toward the end of the clip, around AD 26,000.
Enjoy the Quicktime video .