The sky at night

The Sky at night Even without a map and compass you can still find your way at night using the stars as your guide. The best constellation to use is Ursa Major (The Great Bear), often called the Plough.

The pair of stars called The Pointers point directly to the North Star, “Polaris”, when you face Polaris you are looking North, East is on your right, South behind you and West will be on your left.

Another star constellation which is useful in finding North at certain times of the year is Orion (The Hunter). If you imagine a line running from the middle star of Orion’s Belt and through the group of smaller stars which forms his head, this line also points to the North Star. Tips These two constellations can also be used as signposts to spot other constellations. Use the Pointers of the plough the other way to find Leo (The Lion).

The plough’s handle points to Bootes (The Ploughman) and Corona Borealis (the Northern Crown). Use the pointers on the plough to find Polaris and you have also found Ursa Minor (The Little Bear), and if you continue the same distance past Polaris you’ll easily find the W shaded constellation of Cassiopeia.

Follow the line formed by the three distinctive stars that make up Orion’s belt to the left to find Canis Major (The Big Dog) which has the brightest star in the northern skies (Sirrius). To the right of Orion’s belt is the distinctivie v-shaped constellation of Taurus (The Bull) and a star group called Pleaides (the Seven Sisters).