Your First Night Sky (Beginners)

Recommend to be first recognisable pattern in your night sky – The Plough
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Ursa Major, The Plough

• Ursa Major is visible all year round from the UK.
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• To find Ursa Major, do a naked-eye search for the Plough in the northern sky.
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• You can see the bright stars of Ursa Major with the unaided eye – the less light pollution there is, the more stars you will see.
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• There are seven brightest stars in the Big Dipper (see image above);
  
  – Alkaid
  – Mizar & Alcor
  – Alioth
  – Megrez
  – Phecda
  – Merak
  – Dubhe
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Other names for The Plough

• The Plough is also known in the UK.
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• The Plough is also known in the US or Canada as The Big Dipper.
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• The Plough is also known in France as The Saucepan.

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Finding the North Star

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• Locate the Plough constellation known as Ursa Major.
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• Find the bottom line outer edge of the Plough.
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• Draw an imaginary line outward from the pointer stars.
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• Stand facing the North Star.
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• When you’re facing the North Star, you ‘re facing true north.
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If the sky is cloudy

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• The North Star is approximately 6 times the distance between the 2 pointer stars.
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• Look at the space between those 2 stars and then multiply that distance by 6.
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• This gives you the approximate location for the North Star.

Recognising Patterns by the brightest stars

• Above one of the easiest ways to locate constellations is by recognising the patterns they form in the night sky.
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• Familiar constellations such as Orion (The Hunter), Ursa Major (The Plough), and Cassiopeia (The Queen) are easily recognisable and can be used as starting points to find other constellations.
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• Find out more about Constellation Names & visible from the UK
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• If you need to know exactly when a constellation is visible, check in live constellation visible from the UK.
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