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Astronomy/Earth's North Pole in Relation To Milky Way Center

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Expert: - 12/16/2011


Question
What is relation of the earth's north orientation (i.e. Polaris) to the center of the Milky Way? For example is our north actually galactic east or west etc? Thank You for your response

Answer
Hello,

From Norton's Star Atlas, there is a "Galactic Chart" which shows the celestial coordinates of the northern sector of the sky with the Milky Way's galactic coordinates superposed upon them. From this one can see that the North Star (Polaris) is roughly at galactic latitude 27 degrees, i.e. 27 degrees "north" of the galactic equator (though technically, the cardinal directions don't have the same meaning they have for us on Earth!)  From the same chart the galactic longitude is about 124 degrees (on a 0 to 180 degrees scale). This would be tantamount to a galactic "west" but again, bear in mind my cautions regarding over-extending Earth cardinal directions to the galaxy!

Sorry, but I am unable to reproduce the Norton galactic map because of copyright restrictions that apply on this site.

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Philip Stahl

Expertise

I have forty years of experience in Astronomy, specifically solar and space physics. My specialties include the physics of solar flares, sunspots, including their effects on Earth and statistics as applied to astronomical investigations.

Experience

Astronomy: more than forty years experience starting with construction of my own simple telescopes. Worked at university observatory in college, doing astrographic measurements. M.Phil. degree in Physics/Solar Physics and more than ten years as researcher.

Organizations
American Astronomical Society (Solar Physics and Dynamical Astronomy divisions), American Mathematical Society, American Geophysical Union

Publications
Solar Physics (journal), The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, The Proceedings of the Meudon Solar Flare Workshop (1986), The Proceedings of the Caribbean Physics Conference (1985). Books: 'Selected Analyses in Solar Flare Plasma Dynamics', 'Physics Notes for Advanced Level'.

Education/Credentials
B.A. Astronomy, M. Phil. Physics

Awards and Honors
American Astronomical Society Studentship Award (1984), Barbados Government Award for Solar Research

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