Earth's axis of rotation isn't straight up and down like the axes of Mercury or Jupiter. Rather, our planet's axis is tilted at an angle of 23.5 degrees. ... The recent change to Earth's axis won't affect our everyday lives, but it could slightly tweak the length of our days.

When was the last time the Earth's axis shifted?

Researchers knew that polar drift shifted eastward in 1995 and that it sped up by 17 times between 1995 and 2020 compared with 1981 to 1995.

Is the tilt of the Earth changing?

Human activity is literally moving Earth's poles. Earth's poles are moving — and that's normal. But new research suggests that within just decades, climate change and human water use have given the poles' wandering an additional nudge.