Locating Big Dipper and Polaris – Tips & Tricks for Finding Big Dipper Constellation and the North Star

Written by Marko on November 27, 2007

Today I am writing about one of my favorite objects and topics in astronomy, finding Big Dipper constellation and the North Star (also called as Pole Star and Polaris). Why am I enthusiastic about these two “easy” objects in astronomy? Because they are usually the objects people find first and from which people get interested in astronomy. As I was a little kid in 1980’s and lived in northern Finland (Pelkosenniemi, in the heart of Lappland), I remember watching the Big Dipper and North Star with great passion and interest. They were my very first contacts to astronomy. Ok, there was the Moon as well, but when talking about stars and constellations, the Big Dipper and Polaris were my very first objects. I am willing to write about those because I believe it might help someone becoming interested in this fantastic hobby. This might also be helpful for teaching astronomy for kids.

Big Dipper is a star constellation (asterism), which is part of a bigger constellation, Ursa Major (Great Bear). If you don’t know what this is all about, please take a look at my article of What Can You Actually See on the Nightsky. The Big Dipper is one of the best known constellations and it appears in texts and discussions of many cultures. The Big Dipper has seven stars, namely Dubhe, Merak, Phecda, Megrez, Alioth, Mizar and Alkaid. The stars of Big Dipper are the brightest stars of Ursa Major. Big Dipper is one of the easiest star constellations to locate and therefore it is the very first contact to astronomy for many people, including me. In England the Big Dipper is many times called as “the plough” and “plow” in the US. Also “the drinking gourd” is sometimes used. If this is you’re first moments with astronomy, I recommend you to read my article on What is Needed In Order to Start Skywatching. If you are already advanced a little, I recommend you to read my article Starcharts and Planisphere (basics) and another article on Using the Charts.

North Star, also called as Polaris and Pole Star, is the brightest star of Ursa Minor (Little Bear). In fact, the North Star is a combination of three stars. One of these three stars is an interesting yellow giant, a huge star with magnitude of +2.02m. Read more about this interesting topic in Nasa’s article “There’s More to the North Star Than Meets the Eye“. For us it looks like one star, but as said, it is a system of three individual stars. Polaris is located almost above the North Pole, which makes other stars “circulating” the North Star.

Let’s now talk about locating the Big Dipper and Polaris. We start from the Big Dipper. Turn yourself so that you are looking to north. Start searching for a constellation that looks like a big ladle. See this picture of Big Dipper as an example. Here is another great picture of Big Dipper, and here is yet another picture of Big Dipper. Depending where you are standing on this planet, the constellation can be positioned upside down or it can be “standing” with the tip of the “ladle” towards Earth. If you have already found Orion, you know that it is in south. You can now watch Orion and then turn 180 degrees to north to locate the Big Dipper. Take a look at this good picture of Big Dipper to understand how it looks like when watching from Hawaii. In case you are interested in Orion, read my article of How To Find Orion Nebula M42.

Now that you have located Big Dipper, let us continue to locate the North Star, also called as Polaris and Polar Star. Look at the last two stars of Big Dipper, called Merak and Dubhe. You can locate North Star by “drawing” a straight line from Merak to Dubhe and multiplying that line five times longer, as shown in the picture on the left side.

Now you have located the two important astronomy objects for beginners, Big Dipper and Polaris. Please, leave a comment if this was helpful or not, or if you have anything to ask or you just would like to say something from your experience. If you did like this, please consider subscribing to my RSS feeds or email newsletter on the upper corner of the right sidebar.

Comments

09-18-2008
11:00 pm

ennis

Hi

It looks like the wrong image may have uploaded. You have Orion’s belt pointing to Sirius the dog star.

Thanks

~E
09-25-2008
1:28 pm

faggot

shit on astonemy
09-25-2008
1:30 pm

David

I am doing quite alot of projects on stars and i

use this site oft
en
09-25-2008
1:33 pm

Spazz neibour

This site is Spazz and smells like my dog!!!!!!!!!#@$%%^
01-19-2009
9:32 am

glyvette_abegail castillo

sabi ni glyvette kantutan daw sila john michael
sabi ni abegail castillo jajakolin daw niya ang titi ni john michael
01-28-2009
8:44 pm

Lope

Have to agree with what ennis has said above; the image in the article is of Orion and Sirius, not the Big Dipper and North Star. Really should correct this to avoid confusion!
01-09-2010
10:49 pm

wtf

the most important bit is the visual aide and as ennis on 11.27.07 states you have the wrong image?!
07-27-2010
4:53 am

donald casey

how come at my doctor the big dipper has den inthe north for the last 4 year know in the sought think don