In other words, while the Sun, Moon and stars travel from East to West the direction we see them moving depends entirely on which direction we are facing at the time:įacing North: Stars rotate counter-clockwise (right to left)įacing South: Stars rotate clockwise (left to right)įacing East: Stars rise in front, and set behindįacing West: Stars rise behind, and set in front In the same way, if you were to face due South the stars would naturally appear to rotate from left to right in a clockwise direction. Therefore, if you look up at Polaris you will see the stars rotating in the opposite direction from right to left (counter-clockwise) once every 24 hours. If you stand facing North, your right hand-side will point due East, and your left hand-side due West, with the ground beneath you and everything on it is moving from your left to right. The North Star (Polaris) in Ursa Minor is useful for illustrating this point, as it is a pivot around which the entire northern sky revolves. The movement we therefore observe is not their movement, but our own as we go zipping along on the surface of the Earth towards the East, and these celestial objects pass us overhead. The Sun, Moon and stars all appear to rise in the East and set in the West, because the Earth revolves on its axis in the opposite direction from West to East every 24 hours. The Ancients thought that the Universe turned around us that the Sun actually moved across the sky – they even created “gods” like Hermes who was responsible for dragging the Sun across the sky every day.

We’re on a planet that is so big that it seems still to us – we share its motion and don’t experience any acceleration. Of course you realize that the sky isn’t turning any more than the entire Universe is spinning around you when you twirl to make yourself dizzy.

Look towards the stars and not