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Weekend


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February 28, 2003

Strange But True!

  • A weekly column of incidental information, off-the-wall observations and other random facts about the world.
    • By BILL SONES and RICH SONES, Ph.D.
    Special to the Journal

    Q. What's the Southern hemisphere's equivalent of the North Star that stays directly overhead at the North Pole?

    A. There isn't any South Star. To appreciate how remarkable it is to have a North Star, figure that the entire sky consists of 41,253 square degrees, and Polaris happens to be situated within a single degree of the celestial pole, says astronomer Bob Berman in "Secrets of the Night Sky." So the odds against one of the 50 brightest stars winding up so singularly situated are almost 1,000 to 1!


     
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