celestial poles

The two points on the celestial sphere about which the sky appears to rotate daily. Their positions are the directions in space towards which the Earth's rotation axis points. The north celestial pole currently lies close to the star Polaris and the south pole is in the constellation Octans, unmarked by any bright star. Because of the effects of precession, the positions of the poles are not stationary but sweep out circles with radii of about 23° over a period of 25,800 years.