Hobbies And Interests
Things You'll Need
Instructions
Searching the Sky at Night
Find a clear, cloudless, moonless night to go stargazing. Leave the city lights and other light pollution far behind. Winter is the best season to gaze: The night lasts longer, and the dry, cold air aids visibility.
Lay out your blanket; lie down and look up. The earth spins on its axis, the north of which is pointed straight at one particular star, Polaris, also known as the North Star. If you were at the North Pole right now, that star would seem to be overhead. If you lived at the equator, the North Star would seem to be right on the horizon as you look North.
Find the Big Dipper. This is one of the patterns of stars located closest to the North Star and therefore visible all year long in most of the Northern Hemisphere. The seven bright stars, four in the "cup" and three for the "handle," are part of a constellation of stars called Ursa Major, "the Great Bear."
Find Polaris. Trace left across the two stars that make up the cup of the Big Dipper. Follow the line they make until you encounters the first star in their path, which is the North Star. It's isolated and seems a rather unremarkable star, not even all that bright, but night after night, the whole star canvas makes a slow rotation around that single point.
Find other stars. In the Northern Hemisphere, the stars closest to the North Star will be visible at night year-round, but other constellations that are visible will change with the seasons. This is because as the earth rotates around the sun, the tilt of the axis causes it to shift more toward or away from the sun, causing the seasons to change and changing what part of the sky is visible from the ground at night. The best way to anticipate what constellations you can see is to consult a star chart (see the Resources section below). This handy device allows you to spin a star map against the visible portion of the sky according to the day's date. What is visible on the map will reflect what you'll see above.