Why is Polaris called the Pole Star?
The Earth spins like a gyroscope, and like a gyroscope, is subject to “precession”. That means that the Earth’s gyroscope makes very large VERY SLOW swings around the sky; swings of about 30 degrees. The precession cycle takes about 28,000 years to complete, so humans haven’t had a chance to observe the changes. But in about 15,000 years, the star “Vega” will be the “pole star”, and Polaris will be some 3rd magnitude star that nobody pays any attention to.
