Content

• Steps
• Method 1 of 3: Finding the Polar Star by Constellation
• Method 2 of 3: Finding the North Star with modern technology
• Method 3 of 3: Determining the North Direction for Finding a Star
• Tips
• Warnings

The North Star (alpha Ursa Minor) is often used by tourists to determine the cardinal points if they get lost. Knowing the position of the North Star is also useful for routine stargazing. It can be found by the landmarks given by the surrounding constellations. Since all these constellations belong to the Northern Hemisphere, and the Pole Star itself points to the north, it would be nice to initially know the approximate direction of the north. If you do not have a compass, you can rely on natural signs to tell you that you are looking north at the sky.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Finding the Polar Star by Constellation

1. 1 Take advantage of the landmark of the stars of the Big Dipper. Polaris can be easily found using the Ursa Major dipper. It contains "guide stars" that can be used to locate the North Star in the sky.
   • First, find the Big Dipper bucket in the sky. The constellation Ursa Major consists of seven stars. It is located in the Northern Hemisphere of the sky. In spring and summer, the Big Dipper is located high in the sky. In autumn and winter, the constellation sinks lower.
   • The constellation Ursa Major is often called the bucket, as the arrangement of its stars resembles a bucket with a long handle. In this case, the trapezoidal bucket bowl is formed by four stars. Three more stars are slightly behind these four stars, forming a slightly curved bucket handle.
   • Having found the Big Dipper in the sky, with its help you can easily find the North Star. To do this, look at the two extreme stars of the bucket bowl, located on the side opposite from the handle. These are the "pointer stars". Draw an imaginary line through them. Extend the line further from the top of the bowl, five times the distance between the directional stars. Here you will see a relatively bright star. This is the North Star.
   • Note that this method does not oblige you to physically see the North Star. If clouds, mountains, or spreading trees interfere with this, the star will still be five times the distance from the bucket, about three degrees from the North Pole.
2. 2 Find the tip of the handle by the Ursa Minor's bucket. The North Star belongs to the constellation Ursa Minor. It is located at the tip of the constellation's bucket. If you can visually see the Ursa Minor's bucket, then you can easily find the Polar Star.
   • Again, the constellation Ursa Major can be used to find the Ursa Minor. When you find the Big Dipper bucket in the sky, shift your gaze beyond the upper edge of its bowl. The Ursa Minor bucket will be a kind of mirror image of the large bucket. However, it also consists of seven stars. Four stars form a trapezoidal bucket bowl, and three stars form a handle extending from the bowl. The last star in the pen is Polar.
   • If you live in an urban area, you may have difficulty identifying the Ursa Minor in the sky. In this case, it is better to try to find the North Star by another method.
3. 3 Be guided by the arrow of the constellation Cassiopeia. Most often, the Polar Star is searched for by the constellations Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. However, when the Ursa Major's dipper is low enough in the sky, finding the North Star can be difficult. Fortunately, in this case, you can use the constellation Cassiopeia.
   • The constellation Cassiopeia consists of five stars. They form the letter "M" or "W" in the sky. This is the northern constellation. In the early evening, Cassiopeia looks more like an "M". And between midnight and dawn, it looks like a "W". In February and March, the constellation forms a particularly pronounced "W".
   • The three central stars of the letter "M" or "W" can be used to find the North Star. Look at them and imagine an arrow pointing forward. Move your eyes in the direction of the arrow and eventually you will stumble upon a relatively bright star. This will be the North Star.

Method 2 of 3: Finding the North Star with modern technology

1. 1 Find the North Star using your smartphone. There are many applications for smartphones that act as a kind of telescope. Enter the coordinates of your location into the application, or let the phone determine your position by itself, and then point the phone at the sky. He will display you an interactive map of the starry sky and sign the constellations with stars especially for you. Some apps even allow you to improve the visibility of the stars, making them easier to identify.
   • Sky Guide is an iPhone app. It allows you to track your position and current time. After that, you can raise the phone to the sky, and a map of stars will be displayed on the screen. It can be used to identify various constellations and stars.
   • For Android, there is an application like Stellarium Mobile. It works in the same way as SkyGuide, but provides a higher quality picture resolution. With it, you can better see the stars and constellations.
2. 2 Invest in a starry sky atlas. The atlases of the starry sky have existed for a long time. If the idea of ​​using your phone to gaze at the stars does not inspire you at all and kills all your interest in this activity, consider purchasing an atlas of the starry sky. Always take your atlas with you when you go hiking in case your phone runs out of power. The Atlas of the Starry Sky is a book with maps of the night sky broken down by geographic region and season. Using the maps and diagrams available in the atlas, you can find the position of the North Star on any night.
   • All atlases of the starry sky are slightly different from each other. At the end, there is usually information about how specific constellations and stars are indicated in the atlas. For example, small stars can be marked with small black dots, and large stars (like the North Star) with large red dots.
   • The atlas of the starry sky contains maps similar to maps of the earth's surface, only they reflect the position of the stars in the sky on a particular night. Select a map from the atlas that relates to your geographic location and the current time of year. Keep a flashlight with you so that you can refer to the atlas if necessary.
   • Practice working with the atlas in advance of the trek. It will take some time to start using it professionally. You need good practice so that when you need to quickly find the North Star, you can easily do it using the atlas.
3. 3 Prepare in advance for stargazing with your computer. There are special applications for desktop computers that allow you to see how the starry sky will look at a particular night. They will help you prepare in advance for everything. Then you will go on a hike with a rough understanding of where you can look for the North Star in the sky.
   • The Stellarium app exists not only for smartphones but also for computers. It can be downloaded, installed and used to find the North Star. It is available for Linux, Mac and Windows operating systems. The night sky map displayed by the app will be adjusted for your location and time of year.It will show you in which part of the sky you can look for the North Star on a particular night. When you're in nature, you'll know exactly where to look to find a star.
   • If you have a Mac, the PhotoPills photo planning application is available for this operating system. It can be used to prepare for starry sky photography. PhotoPills can simulate a starry sky based on your location and the time of year. The resulting image can then be used to locate the North Star.

Method 3 of 3: Determining the North Direction for Finding a Star

1. 1 Find out where north is with two sticks. If you don't know which direction you are looking at the sky, finding constellations can be extremely difficult, and you won't be able to find the North Star in the sky. A preliminary determination of the north direction will make it easier for you to find the North Star. To do this, you can use two sticks.
   • Find two sticks first. One of them should be slightly longer than the other.
   • Stick the sticks vertically into the ground. Place the longer stick slightly in front of the short one.
   • Lie down near the sticks. Make sure that your gaze is in line with the tops of the sticks and any star in the sky. Adjust the position of the poles if necessary.
   • Remain still and watch the star until it moves. If the star is going up, then you are looking to the east, if it is going down, then you are looking to the west. If the star shifts to the right, you are looking south. And if it moves to the left, then you are looking north.
2. 2 Determine north by daytime sunshine. If it's a day, you also have the opportunity to determine the direction of the North Star. However, the constellations will not help you with this, since during the day it is difficult to see them in the sky. Instead, the sun's shadow will allow you to determine the north direction.
   • Stick the stick into the ground some time before noon (when the sun is highest). Take a pebble or other object and place it where the end of the stick's shadow is. Additionally, take a string and use it to draw a circle around the stick with a radius equal to the current length of the shadow.
   • Wait about the same amount of time in the afternoon as it was before noon when you marked the first position of the shadow with a pebble. During this time, the shadow will shift, first decreasing, and then starting to grow again. When its end grows back to the previously drawn circle, mark the new position of the shadow on the circle with another pebble. Draw a line connecting the two pebbles, and draw a perpendicular to it from the stick stuck in the ground. If you stand behind a stick and look in the direction of the perpendicular, it will point you north.
3. 3 Pay attention to the growth of the moss. If you are in an area where there is a lot of moss, it can help you determine where north is. Pay attention to moss on vertical surfaces such as trees. Moss requires moist conditions to grow. For this reason, on vertical objects, it usually grows from the north side, where there is little sun on it.

Tips

• Make sure you can see all the stars of the Big Dipper before using them to search for the North Star.
• Remember that the sun rises in the east and sets in the west, and north is always on the right side of the west. Therefore, if you saw a sunset, look to the right of this direction, there will be north.

Warnings

• If you are near the equator, then it will be very difficult to find the North Star, and impossible in the Southern Hemisphere.
• If only one star is visible in the sky at dusk or dawn, it may actually be the planet Venus, often called the morning or evening star (depending on the season).