No great insights here but I've just seen this great animation on Wikipedia.
Thought you might like it too.
Thought you might like it too.
Finding the North Star.
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That great!
I usually work off the plough or Cassiopeia depending on time, I have found when I can pick up one of them, polaris is easy - and, being the idiot I am, they are very bright and recognisable. But other than orion and one or two they are all I can pick out from memory!
Red
I usually work off the plough or Cassiopeia depending on time, I have found when I can pick up one of them, polaris is easy - and, being the idiot I am, they are very bright and recognisable. But other than orion and one or two they are all I can pick out from memory!
Red
i'm not taking the micky, nor is this fact as I am not an expert, but I seem to remember being told to stand looking into the sky and spin round, the one that stands out is polaris, or is that syrus ?
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I now realise that if it doesn't work, I shall not hear anyway, shall I ?
Edit:
I now realise that if it doesn't work, I shall not hear anyway, shall I ?
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widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
I was always taught follow the line of the end two stars of the blade and 2.5 to 3 times the two stars length. That works.
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Sirius is in the southern sky, just a few degrees above the horizon depending on where you are in the UK, the further north you, are the lower it appears.
beetle juice ?
If someone who knows about stars could tell me which one that is, obviously it may be country and season specific.
(Bietelgieus ?)
edit: to make it clear from the first attempt at conveying whats in my head into letters words and then sentences-
if you know about stars which star it the one where you look into the sky and turn round re the last post.
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nah not that one, the one in the other post where you stand looking up into the sky whilst singing the theme to superman. Is bietelgeuis the brightest though?
Edit.
Just looked , beetle juice is the brightest object other than our own solar system, if you go by non visible light, I knew it rang a bell.
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I know what the plough is, i know what Casieopia is and i know how to find the north star using these constellations. Thats pretty much all i know about stars in the northern hemisphere and all i need to know, no other interest i'm afraid.
Great animation Gary,just about sums up all i need to know about starsNo great insights here but I've just seen this great animation on Wikipedia.
Thought you might like it too.
That's good. I work off the plough and finding the north star is one of the few things I can generally manage. My ignorance does not stop me enjoying stargazing though.
widu13
Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Please stop posting the spinning images- I'm feeling dizzy 
As a young teenager I was into astronomy but only the practical side, I can identify the easier constellations like the Great and Little Bear, The Swan etc but the majority of the star names elude me.
As a young teenager I was into astronomy but only the practical side, I can identify the easier constellations like the Great and Little Bear, The Swan etc but the majority of the star names elude me.
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Not an expert at this by any means, but have spent the last 6 years doing astronomy-related science-communication, so will answer what I can - first up, nice animation 
In rough order then...
@petrochemicals - oftentimes, the brightest object will stand out while moving about, even just letting your eyes de-focus can work. This doesn't help with the Pole Star/North Star/Polaris though, as it's not that bright (as widu13 pointed out). It would be good for finding Sirius in the winter in the UK though (seasonal visibility will vary depending on where you are as has been pointed out) or if you can see Orion, follow the line of his belt left, and it'll bring you to Sirius.
re Betelgeuse and brightness, unless you plan on doing some interstellar travel, the apparent magnitude is what you need to look at, ie how bright an object appears to be when viewed from Earth. In this case from the UK for stars, that would be Sirius if it's visible, though Betelgeuse is much brighter in absolute magnitude, it's 53.some times further away from us, so appears dimmer. Teeny background bit on magnitude, it works 'backwards' ie the lower the value the brighter the object (Betelgeuse 0.45 and Sirius -1.45 [yep, that's not typo, negative magnitude values for the brightest things up there, like Venus, or the International Space Station, or Iridium Flares {reflected light from Iridium comm satellites which can be as bright as -8! Easy to find too, shout if you're interested}]).
Apps like Skymap, Google Sky, SkEye or whatever are great for getting info and such, but you can't beat getting familiar with the real night sky, and it doesn't need batteries
Fun fact - once Orion is visible in the UK skies again later in the year, when you look at Betelgeuse, you're looking at Betelgeuse 427.some years ago, when the light left the star - flip that round, any life with big enough telescopes on a planet going round Betelgeuse right now, looking at Earth, would be seeing the planet as it was 427-odd years ago...
In rough order then...
@petrochemicals - oftentimes, the brightest object will stand out while moving about, even just letting your eyes de-focus can work. This doesn't help with the Pole Star/North Star/Polaris though, as it's not that bright (as widu13 pointed out). It would be good for finding Sirius in the winter in the UK though (seasonal visibility will vary depending on where you are as has been pointed out) or if you can see Orion, follow the line of his belt left, and it'll bring you to Sirius.
re Betelgeuse and brightness, unless you plan on doing some interstellar travel, the apparent magnitude is what you need to look at, ie how bright an object appears to be when viewed from Earth. In this case from the UK for stars, that would be Sirius if it's visible, though Betelgeuse is much brighter in absolute magnitude, it's 53.some times further away from us, so appears dimmer. Teeny background bit on magnitude, it works 'backwards' ie the lower the value the brighter the object (Betelgeuse 0.45 and Sirius -1.45 [yep, that's not typo, negative magnitude values for the brightest things up there, like Venus, or the International Space Station, or Iridium Flares {reflected light from Iridium comm satellites which can be as bright as -8! Easy to find too, shout if you're interested}]).
Apps like Skymap, Google Sky, SkEye or whatever are great for getting info and such, but you can't beat getting familiar with the real night sky, and it doesn't need batteries
Fun fact - once Orion is visible in the UK skies again later in the year, when you look at Betelgeuse, you're looking at Betelgeuse 427.some years ago, when the light left the star - flip that round, any life with big enough telescopes on a planet going round Betelgeuse right now, looking at Earth, would be seeing the planet as it was 427-odd years ago...
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Good post Chillistar. I know some basics from a now diminished interest I had in Astronomy I had when in my teens. I would say that the Sky Map applications available for most 'smart' phones is a great little tool to use, far easier than trying to look at a real map and then match that to the night sky.
I made a point of learning a few constellations some years back and also learning how to find north. I like to do it most nights to keep my eye in.
I have pretty awful light pollution where I live but always manage to find north.
Then I finally managed to get a clear night whilst north of the border in a Dark sky area and found I was completely overwhelmed!
I couldn't orient my self in the sky at all as there were just too many stars. Completely magical and yet to see another night like it.
Late spring, D&G loch trool.
I have pretty awful light pollution where I live but always manage to find north.
Then I finally managed to get a clear night whilst north of the border in a Dark sky area and found I was completely overwhelmed!
I couldn't orient my self in the sky at all as there were just too many stars. Completely magical and yet to see another night like it.
Late spring, D&G loch trool.
There's hardly any light pollution where i live so the night sky is great when it's clear. I learned to find the pole star using lofty wisemans book when it first came out in the mid to late eighties, using the plough and/or Cassiopeia.
Whilst i love looking at the stars I only really remember the important ones I might need for navigation, the others just look nice.
good animation showing them though!
Whilst i love looking at the stars I only really remember the important ones I might need for navigation, the others just look nice.
good animation showing them though!
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