Cooped Up? Get Uncooped.

I think people often mistake Sirius (the brightest star in our galaxy) for the North Star (Polaris) because they assume the North Star is bright. I mean, explorers used it to find direction; it should be bright, right? It isn’t. Here’s some quick rules that can help you locate this very important star.

1. First, locate the Big Dipper.

2. Then, site a line over to the tip of the bowl of the Big Dipper’s dipper until you come to the last star in the Little Dipper’s handle.

3. And bingo, you’ve found the north star. Just keep in mind that the North Star isn’t exactly north. It’s a bit less than one degree off. Also, the Big Dipper's bowl changes the direction it's pointing, depending on the time of the year and time of night. Here is a diagram of it's postion in early evening according to the months of the year.

Diagrams courtesy of UCLA's Physics Department.

• stars
• constellations
• north_star
• direction
• north
• Polaris