Observers can never see all 88 constellations from a single location on Earth. Southern hemisphere sky map, image: Roberto Mura With the celestial poles on the horizon, all stars appear to rise in the east and set in the west for observers at the equator. Near the equator, there are no circumpolar stars. The stars that are close to the poles never set below the horizon for observers in locations where the stars are visible: they are circumpolar. The farther they are from the poles, the wider the circle the stars make across the night sky. Polaris and other stars lying near the celestial poles appear to move across a smaller area than stars lying closer to the equator. The south celestial pole is a bit trickier to pinpoint because there are stars visible to the unaided eye marking its location. The north celestial pole can be easily located because it is marked by Polaris, a relatively bright star located in Ursa Minor constellation. Similarly, the Earth’s North and South Poles, extended into space, mark the north and south celestial poles. The celestial sphere, an imaginary sphere surrounding Earth, is divided into the northern and southern hemispheres by the line of the Earth’s equator, extended into space. Northern hemisphere map, image: Roberto Mura
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