An Etymological Dictionary of Astronomy and Astrophysics
English-French-Persian

A point of the → magnetosphere where the Earth's → magnetic field points vertically downward; in other words it has a 90° → magnetic dip toward the Earth's surface. The magnetic north pole can also be defined as the point toward which the south pole of the → compass needle is directed. The magnetic north pole is different from the → geographic north pole. It is actually hundreds of kilometers south of the geographic north pole. However, this has not always been the case. In the past 150 years it has moved more than 1,000 kilometers. Every 200,000 to 300,000 years the magnetic field of the Earth reverses direction, → magnetic reversal. Since the Earth's magnetic field is not exactly symmetrical, the north and south magnetic poles are not → antipodal.

→ magnetic; → north; → pole.