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We managed to set a new Ask Yahoo! land-speed record with this one. Two clicks from the Ask an Astronomy Expert category in the Yahoo! Directory, we found the Q&A column at Scientific American.com. As it turns out, an archived column focused on the very subject of Polaris or the North Star. The North Star appears to be stationary because it's located only a half a degree from the North Celestial Pole (NCP). This is the point in the night sky where the projection of the Earth's axis lies. In other words,
a huge column extending from the geographic North Pole up into space would just miss the North Star. Since the Earth rotates around this axis, it stands to reason that in the Northern Hemisphere, the North Star appears stationary, while other constellations revolve around it. Astronomers have known about this for thousands of years; you can see a time-lapse photograph of the phenomenon here. An observer at the North Pole would see the North Star directly over head, while someone at the Equator sees Polaris at the Northern horizon, though it still appears that other stars revolve around it. And according to this astronomy trivia page, by 2100
A.D. the wobble of Earth's axis will begin pointing the North Pole away from Polaris. Eventually, after another 26,000 years or so, the Polaris will once again be the North Star.
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