North Ecliptic Pole
North Ecliptic Pole
one of the two points of intersection of the celestial sphere with a line perpendicular to the plane of the ecliptic and passing through the center of the celestial sphere. (The ecliptic is the great circle traced by the annual apparent motion of the center of the sun on the celestial sphere.) Located in the northern sky, in the constellation Draco, the north ecliptic pole has the following equatorial coordinates: right ascension α = 18h00m; declination δ = +66° 33′.