the geographic north and south poles are the poles the earth spins around, the ones people see on a globe where all the north–south lines meet. these poles stay in the same place, and are usually the ones we mean if we just say north or south pole. people can tell that they are at these poles by looking at the stars (at the poles, a star just circles around at the same height, never dipping to the horizon). the sun rises once a year and gives the south pole half a year of summer but it is always cold. when the sun sets half a year later it makes half a year of winter which is even colder. the south pole is always cold because the sun never rises high in the sky.