Paul Fournier, age 10, of Newport News, Va., for his question:

Is Polaris above the North Pole or the Magnetic Pole?

The geographic North and South Poles are the two ends of the axis around which the Earth rotates. Halfway between them is the Equator. These natural points are used as a basis for the lines of latitude and longitude, which we use to find places and directions on the surface of the globe. Polaris hangs almost directly above the Earth's geographic North Pole.

But the Earth is a giant magnet. Its North and South Magnetic Poles are some distance from its geographic poles. Polaris points out the geographic north direction from which we take the lines of latitude and longitude. The needle of a magnetic compass points to the North Magnetic Pole, which is near Prince Edward Island and more than 1000 miles from the geographic North Pole.