This picture shows where Earth's North Magnetic Pole is. It also shows Earth's geographic North Pole. The two poles are not in the same place.
Click on image for full size
Original artwork by Windows to the Universe staff (Randy Russell).
Earth's North Magnetic Pole
Earth has a magnetic field with a north pole and a south pole. Earth's magnetic field is pretty much like the magnetic field around a bar magnet. Earth's North Magnetic Pole (NMP) is not in the same place as the geographic North Pole. The NMP is off the northern coast of Canada. That is several hundred kilometers (miles) from the geographic North Pole.
Earth's magnetic poles move around. The NMP moved about 1,100 km (684 miles) during the 20th century.
Compass needles point towards the NMP. Since the NMP is pretty close to the geographic North Pole, people have used compasses to find their way around for many, many years.
Some kinds of radiation in space flow along magnetic fields. Earth's magnetic field steers these particles towards Earth's magnetic poles. When the particles blast into our atmosphere, they make gases in the atmosphere glow. That's what causes the beautiful Northern Lights!
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