Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Purchase a star map. While it is possible to buy specialist maps which can be adjusted to account for the changing seasons, astronomy publications often will include star maps. Also,excellent star maps are now available for the PC, as well as applications for smart phones you can download.
Learn to recognize the major circumpolar constellations in the night sky. These are the constellations that never set beneath the horizon but instead rotate around the North Star as the seasons change. They are: the Big Dipper, Cassiopeia, Perseus and Cepheus. With this knowledge you have constant reference points to find any star at any time of year. It is important to memorize the circumpolar constellations in relation to each other as well as what they look like.
Learn to recognize the elliptic to find planets. The elliptic is the path taken by the planets in our solar system as seen from earth. The best time to view it is a couple of days before a full moon, although not all of the planets will appear in the night sky at the same time.
Locate Polaris, the North Star, to use as a point of reference to find other stars. First locate the Big Dipper using the star map. Next, find the two stars that make up the opposite side to the Dipper's handle. Draw an imaginary line up from the bottom star to the top and then continue on this trajectory until you hit a star. This star is Polaris. This is the approximate center of the star map, so from here any star visible to the naked eye should be locatable.