How to build a working knowledge of the night sky

To fully utilize this guide a star chart of some kind will eventually be needed, but no prior knowledge of the night sky or special terminology is requiredThis guide follows the principle that the best way to learn the constellations is incrementalIt should be noted that in areas with severe light pollution the type of observation described herein may be impossible

The first step in the process is finding the North Star, which is also known as Polaris, in the constellation Ursa MinorPolaris is the only star in the night sky with a fixed position, making it an extremely useful reference point

ORIENT YOURSELF BY FINDINGTHE NORTH STAR

The biggest challenge to learning constellations is that the night sky is not static: All the stars move, with one notable (and useful) exception: N

From your point of view, looking north, the “sky” rotates counter clockwise around Polaris, aka the “North Star”Although the stars will rotate and thus change position through time, Polaris will remain fixedThis makes Polaris and Ursa Minor very useful as a reference point

Polaris/North Star

Find The North Star I(Finding North)

Make note of the direction you are facing by noting a landmark or feature on the horizon that is fixed that you can reference later.

http://celebrating200years.noaa.gov/events/sanctuaries/sunset_olympic650.jpg

Find West by facing the SunsetTurn ninety degrees so that the sunset is to our left.You are now facing North!!

In this case the tower in the distancewould be a good reference to find Westonce the sun has gone down (assuming it can be seen at night)

Find the North Star II

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N

Polaris will always be due North from you

Its position (vertical from the horizon) only depends on where you areon the surface of the Earth relative to the North Pole (your latitude)

Earth

A

B

For Observer A, the pole star is directly overhead

As one moves closer to theequator, the pole star gets lower in the sky until, for someone below theequator, it disappears

Find the North Star III

The altitude of the North star is the same as your latitudeFor example, Utah is at approximately 40 degrees latitude

This means that an observer in Utah should look due north and forty degrees above the horizon for the North Star

Without using a sextant or protractor,the position of Ursa Minor can be foundby approximating that forty degrees is a little less than half way between straightup and directly in front

The North Star will always be in this position as viewed from the same vantage point

From points farther north it will appear higher in the sky, but will always be to the north

We now have a set point from which we can “jump” to other constellations by observing constellations that are right next to ones we already know

In this case, we know how to find the North star which is part of the Little DipperUsing this, we can now try to find Draco, which is right next to it

Draco

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Draco is outlinedin pinkNote that it is rightnext to, and encircles,Ursa Minor

In this way we have used our fixed reference point (Polaris)to locate anotherconstellation, Draco

Keep in mind that Draco willappear to rotate around polaris counterclockwise

Building a base:

With the North star located, it is easy to build a working knowledge of the night sky

The most efficient way is to locate constellations and stars that are unknown using those that are known

Each night go out and find the constellations that you have already located By going out at the same time each night you will ensure that the

relative positions of the stars have not changed, making it easier to find familiar patterns

Using these as reference points ( you will also need a good star chart) it will be much easier to find new constellations

Eventually, with practice, constellations will be easy to find

By repeating these steps one can build a full knowledgebase of the night sky