Stargazing: Learn Six Key Stars & Patterns in 30 Minutes
Sharpen up your navigation skills by learning these six key stars and patterns.
Sailors have used the stars as a tool for celestial navigation for as long as there have been boats, but as time has passed, technology has largely replaced these skills.
Stargazing is a humanist activity that helps us to better understand how our place in the world fits in the universe. It's also a great activity to involve children in since it requires no equipment and is free.
If you enjoy bluewater cruising and would like to sharpen up your navigation skills by learning these key stars and patterns. If your navigation system cuts dead, you can always rely on Polaris to guide you.
Follow these six simple stars and patterns, all of which can be identified with the naked eye. Using the stars is far quicker than using a compass and it is much more fun. Get the whole family involved and see if you can identify these simple star patterns. Although their orientation may change, their position in the sky remains constant throughout the year.
1. Big Dipper
The Big Dipper is a group of seven stars that make a recognizable pattern and perhaps the most famous pattern of stars in the night sky. It is also the shape of a saucepan: four stars form the pan, and the remaining three make the handle.
Top Tip: Don't let the orientation of the stars confuse you! The 'Big Dipper' rotates anticlockwise around the North Star. Sometimes it will appear on its side or even upside down.
The Big Dipper is not a constellation but an asterism, which means it's a collection of stars that make a recognizable shape. For the best visibility of the asterism, view it from April to June in the regions north of latitude 25°S.
Above: Constellation Ursa Major and Ursa Minor. Image via Pond5.
2. How to Find The North Star
Once you have identified the Big Dipper, it is easy to star-jump to find Polaris. Two stars on the outer edge of the Big Dipper pan, Merak and Dubhe, are pointers since they point directly at the star Polaris (α UMi). Polaris is called the North Star because it is close to the North Celestial Pole.
The North Star is in the constellation Ursa Minor, which forms part of the Great Bear.
Navigating from the North Star
Whenever we point towards the spot on the horizon directly below the North Star, we must be pointing north. Wherever you are in the northern hemisphere, the North Star will be positioned at the same angle above the horizon as your latitude.
3. The Little Bear/Little Dipper/ Ursa Minor
Use the Big Dipper to find the Little Dipper. Once you have found the aforementioned Merak and Dubhe, the two outer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper point to Polaris, the North Star. Polaris marks the end of the handle of the Little Dipper. From there, you can star hop to find seven stars; four make up its bowl.
4. The Great Bear (Ursa Major)
The Big Dipper forms the body and tail of the mighty constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear, pictured below. The head and upper torso of the Great Bear include four stars on the right side of the Big Dipper; three more stars make up the forelegs, and the hind legs are made up of four stars.
Above: Ursa Major/ The Great Bear star constellation. Image via Vita Technology/Star Walk 2 app.
5. How to Find Orion
The ancient Greeks thought that an arrangement of stars in the sky looked like a giant hunter with a sword attached to his belt, so they named it after a famous hunter in their mythology, Orion. It's one of the most recognizable constellations in the night sky and can be seen worldwide.
Look for three bright stars close together in an almost straight line that appears to be equally distant from one another. Two brighter stars to the north mark his shoulders, and two more to the south represent his feet.
Another way to spot Orion is to look for its hourglass shape. Three bright stars that form the narrow part of the hourglass form Orion's Belt. In late November, Orion, the three stars of his belt, point upward, and he appears to be lying on his side.
Above: Orion's belt is easy to identify. Image via Vita Technology/Star Walk 2.
6. Sirius
To find Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, use the three stars of Orion's belt as a pointer. Look downward, and Sirius is to the left.
Although white to blue-white in color, Sirius is referred to as a rainbow star since it flickers with many colors, which are especially easy to see when it is low in the sky. Earth's air's varying density and temperature affect starlight's appearance, especially when the star shines through the blanket of Earth's atmosphere low in the sky.
Above: Sirius is the brightest star in the sky. Image via Vita Technology/Star Walk 2.
Sirius is also known as the Dog Star because it is the chief star in Canis Major's constellation, the Greater Dog. It rises in mid-evening in December. By mid-April, Sirius is setting in the southwest in mid-evening.
Learning where the stars hang in the night sky is a great skill to have and one day it could save your life.
There are 88 officially recognized constellations. Now that you've got a handle on the basics, invest in a book or an app such as Star Link 2 and search for wider-reaching constellations.
If you are looking for other forms of entertainment while cruising, you might be interested in Best Sailing Films: 33 Top Picks or Sailing Books: 20 Top Picks
