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One of those questions ...


Demonperformer

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... that is of absolutely no importance, but has wormed its way into my thinking and for that reason alone I need to find a solution to it.

The North Celestial Pole is on the move. It prescribes a circle in the sky over a period of about 26,000(?) years. This circle must have a centre and I started wondering where it is. I dredged up from my memory that about 4,000 years ago it was somewhere near Thuban and that in about 12,000 years time it will be near Vega. So for my first approximation I drew a circle linking these three stars and arrived at a centre somewhere in the vicinity of 36 Draconis (give or take a degree or two!).

But that has not satiated my curiosity. I'm wondering if either there is a mathematical method of working out its co-ordinates (I'm sure there is one, but it is outside of my mathematical knowledge/ability to work out what it is) or indeed if these co-ordinates are "out there" on the internet somewhere (obviously posted by someone with as little of a life as I have), but I've not been able to find them. Clearly these co-ordinates would be dependant upon the co-ordinate system used; so I would ideally opt for "ICRS J2000", but I would be willing to work with any other system if they could provide an answer.

So, having defeated me, I turn this question over to the SGL-megamind to see if anyone has an answer.

Thanks.

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Thanks, Gus. Don't know how I failed to find that page. Following one of the links, I discovered a page that states:

"As of 1 January 2000, the positions of the ecliptic poles expressed in equatorial coordinates, as a consequence of Earth's axial tilt, are the following: North: right ascension 18h 0m 0.0s (exact), declination +66° 33′ 38.55″.

So I guess the the answer is not as obscure as I thought!

Thanks.

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