We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 August 2012
THE RESTLESS UNIVERSE
From ancient Hindu mythology comes this story about the Pole Star: King Uttanapada had two wives. The favourite, Suruchi, was haughty and proud, while the neglected Suniti was gentle and modest. One day Suniti's son Dhruva saw his co-brother Uttama playing on their father's lap. Dhruva also wanted to join him there but was summarily repulsed by Suruchi, who happened to come by. Feeling insulted, the five-year-old Dhruva went in search of a place from where he would not have to move. The wise sages advised him to propitiate the god Vishnu, which Dhruva proceeded to do with a long penance. Finally Vishnu appeared and offered a boon. When Dhruva asked for a place from where he would not have to move, Vishsnu placed him in the location now known as the Pole Star – a position forever fixed.
Unlike other stars and planets, the Pole Star does not rise and set; it is always seen in the same part of the sky. This immovability of the Pole Star has proved to be a useful navigational aid to mariners from ancient to modern times. Yet, a modern-day Dhruva could not be satisfied with the Pole Star as the ultimate position of rest. Let us try to find out why.
The Pole Star does not appear to change its direction in the sky because it happens to lie more or less along the Earth's axis of rotation. As the Earth rotates about its axis, other stars rise over the eastern horizon and set over the western horizon.
To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.
Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.
Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.
To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.
