Thousands of years ago, people spent hours gazing at the night sky. They found that by connecting the stars as if they were dots, patterns emerged that resembled animals, people, and things. Today, we call star patterns “constellations.”
Eventually, 88 of these star patterns were identified. The patterns helped people navigate on land and by sea as well as tell time, appearing in different parts of the sky depending on the day and year. (The stars don’t move. Earth moves, rotating on its axis once every 24 hours and revolving around the Sun once every year.)
Do you enjoy stargazing? Here’s help finding the different stars and constellations. (You can also reference star maps on our astronomy links page.)
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The Big Dipper
The big dipper is not a constellation, but an asterism (a familiar group of stars located within a constellation). See the image to the left (photo credit: NASA/Jerry Lodriguss).
Look for seven major stars: four in the “bowl” and three in the “handle.” The two stars on the outside of the bowl are called the “pointer” stars. They point to Polaris, a bright star that is also called the North Star because with it you can figure out which way is north.
To find north:
- Find the Big Dipper.
- Find the pointer stars.
- Find Polaris.
- Look straight up.
- Turn your body towards Polaris.
- Now, you’re facing north.
Ursa Major, the Great Bear
If you find the Big Dipper, you have found the Great Bear: The Dipper’s handle is the Bear’s tail. See the image to the right (credit: NASA/Akira Fujii)..jpg "Ursa Major and Ursa Minor")
Legends about the Great Bear abound. Ancient Greeks and Romans believed that a mythological king grabbed its tail, swung it around, and swung it into the sky to whirl around the North Pole forever. Some Native Americans believed that the three tail stars were hunters chasing the Bear.
Ursa Minor, the Little Bear
Polaris will help you find the Little Dipper, also known as Ursa Minor, or the Little Bear. Polaris is the star on the end of the Little Dipper’s handle.
Orion, the Hunter
This is easiest to find in the winter. Look for three bright stars in a line—these are Orion’s belt. See image to the left (credit: NASA).
The two stars north of this are Orion’s shoulders. One of 
these is Betelgeuse (“BEETLE-juice”), which is a giant red star. The two brighter stars to the south are his legs.
Ancient people used Orion to predict the seasons: If it appeared at midnight, the grapes were ready to harvest. If it appeared in the morning, summer was beginning. If it appeared in the evening, winter had arrived.
Canis Major, the Great Dog
This constellation is named for the larger of Orion’s two hunting dogs (the other, Canis Minor, has only two stars).
To find Canis Major:
- Imagine a straight line through Orion’s belt.
- Move your eyes left (south) until you come to a very bright star—that’s Sirius, the nose of the dog.
- Look farther south to find a triangle of stars that marks the dog’s hindquarters.
Ancient Egyptians called Sirius “the Nile Star” because it always appeared in the sky right before summer began and the waters of the River Nile began to flood. In medieval Europe, people thought that a combination of light from the Sun and Sirius caused the hot and humid “dog days” of summer.
Image Credit: NASA
On a clear and moonless night away from bright lights, you can see about 2,500 stars. Spend some time looking at the sky and connect the stars!
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this was very interesting and helpful. thanks! i love stargazing, and now i'll actually know what i'm looking at!
1 BRIGHT LARGE STAR AND 1 SMALLER STAR IN LINE WITH IT BOTH ARE IN A LINE AT THE END OR THE BOTTOM OF THE 1/4 MOON. GOT UP AND LOOKED OUT AT 5:54 AM ON 1-30-2019 AND SAW THIS. CAN YOU TELL ME WHAT STARS ARE THESE. LOVE LOOKING AT THE SKY AT NIGHT AND AT MY AGE THERES NOTHING ELSE TO DO. MELODY A
Very good
To understand why the stars do not stay the same throughout the year, and variations in calendars, on YouTube search for ' How Earth Moves '.
There is an excellent video, that explains such phenonmina as 'the Big Dipper going down at sunset' and 'why Orion can not be viewed in spring'.
It is impossible to look in the same place at the same time all yar and see the same stars. The video shows you why.
I just recently started tracking moon's location in sky and it's rise and set time. It started with a couple nights of cloudy weather. The next clear night I was looking where I thought the moon would be and I wasn't even close! Ha-ha! Doing a little research, I think the moon sets in the west although it revolves east around the Earth, but the earth rotates east faster to give the illusion that it(the moon) is setting in the west. Correct?
Also, when will the moon be in roughly the same location the next day. ie: At 9pm the moon will be in same place 55 minutes later the next day?
Overall, the Moon rises in the east and sets in the west, due to Earth’s rotation. The exact location of where it rises/sets will depend on its phase, the time of year, as well as latitude. For example, in spring in the northern hemisphere, the new and full Moons will rise about east and set about in the west, but the first quarter will be more northeast/northwest, and the last quarter more southeast/southwest. The Moon is also moving east due to its own orbit, and therefore we see it has moved about 12 degrees more east than the same time the previous day. On average, the Moon rises about 50 minutes later each day, but latitude and longitude affects this, as well as time of year.
Hello, I'm having a disagreement with a friend. He said you can't see the Big Dipper or small dipper from Cleveland Ohio .Is that true?
Your friend is wrong. The Big Dipper can be seen from Cleveland. In fact, it can be seen all night and all year long, weather permitting. It can even be seen in South America, below the equator. The North Star can be seen about ten degrees above the horizon all year long.
It true now to say again that these stars also appear in the season as it was excepted in the old time. like the appearing of the Orion does it mark the variation of season like winter, summer
Dear Almanac
When I was younger, I used to gaze at the sky at dawn & it's so beautiful with sightings of trillions of stars, the Big Dipper, the Great Bear etc. Sad to find now that I could see only few stars in the sky in my region. Is it that our air is so polluted that it blocks the stars from our vision or have these stars actually disappeared or "died" out. Just wondering if the Big Dipper & the Great Bear still exist.
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