How to Use Star Hopping to Locate Items in the Sky

Learn the names of the stars near the items in the sky you wish to locate. A detailed star chart will have the names of every major named star available, or will have its astronomical designation available (Alpha Orionis is the same as "Betelgeuse" in the constellation Orion).

Begin star hopping by choosing a path to the object that is easy to follow. Finding the North Star (Polaris), for example, can be done by drawing an almost perfectly straight line through Dubhe and Merak (the two stars that form the outer rim of the Big Dipper).

Proceed slowly from one star to the next, and be sure to move your telescope or binoculars in the right direction. Finding Polaris, as in the example above, is done by moving your binoculars up toward the top part of the Dipper and continuing on to the first bright star (which is Polaris).

Use at least two stars to give you the path you need to follow when star hopping. Following Orion's belt to the right, for example, leads to Aldebaran (Alpha Tauri), while following it left leads to Sirius (Alpha Canis Majoris). Using all three stars in Orion's Belt just makes it easier to follow the path visually.

Try to make the path you take when star hopping as straight as possible. Making turns in the sky can be difficult, as it is easy to lose sight of objects when looking through a telescope as the field of vision is very narrow.