South Celestial Pole

Mensa, Octans, Hydrus, Triangulum Australe, Chamaeleon, Volans, Musca, Crux, Pictor, Reticulum, Apus — Click on constellations for closer views.

Hover over the image to see the constellation lines.

The two celestial poles are the imaginary points where the Earth's spin axis intersects the celestial sphere. The sky appears to drift overhead from east to west, completing a full circuit around the sky in 24 (sidereal) hours. This phenomenon is due to the spinning of the Earth on its axis. The Earth's spin axis intersects the celestial sphere at two points. These points are the celestial poles. As the Earth spins, they remain fixed in the sky, and all other points seem to rotate around them.