How To Use A Star Map

Latest News: The new online class – The Beginner's Guide to Natural Navigation – includes a video tutorial on how to utilise the stars to navigate.

Lots of people love the idea of finding direction and navigating using the stars, simply are put off because they fright information technology is complicated. It does not demand to be complicated at all, information technology is something you can larn to practice in minutes. In fact finding direction using the stars is much quicker and easier than using a compass. It is likewise a lot more fun.

To navigate using the stars all we need do is detect a star that is direct above the place we want to get to and it will point exactly the correct direction for us, from quarter of the globe away.

If you called a friend on the telephone who was in another country a few yard miles away, and you lot asked them to name the star that was directly over their head, you could and then discover that star in the night sky and the betoken on the horizon direct below that would be their exact management from you lot at that moment.

Unfortunately, a few minutes later that star would have moved and so you would need a new 1. It would accept a lot of telephone calls to use this method with about stars! Fortunately there is i star in the nighttime sky that does not announced to move. It is chosen Polaris, or the North Star. Information technology is directly overhead the North Pole. This ways that whenever we bespeak towards the spot on the horizon directly beneath the North Star, we must be pointing north.

The easiest method for finding the North Star is past finding the 'Big Dipper', an easy to identify grouping of vii stars. It is known every bit the 'Plough' in the United kingdom of great britain and northern ireland and the 'saucepan' to many others. Adjacent y'all find the 'pointer' stars, these are the ii stars that a liquid would run off if you tipped up your 'saucepan'. The North Star volition always exist five times the distance betwixt these two pointers in the management that they indicate (up away from the pan). True north lies straight under this star. Run across the animated analogy in a higher place.

The 'Big Dipper' rotates anti-clockwise about the North Star, so it will sometimes appear on its side or fifty-fifty upside downwards. Yet its human relationship with the Northward Star never changes and it volition always dependably bespeak the way to it.

The reason the North Star is so important for natural navigation is that it sits straight over the Due north Pole. Something that people often forget is that whenever you are trying to discover truthful north, yous are really trying to find the direction of the Due north Pole from wherever you are – even if you are just heading a few hundred metres on a gentle walk – 'north' is nonetheless simply an abbreviation for 'towards the North Pole'.

The constellation, Cassiopeia, is besides very helpful in finding the Due north Star as information technology volition ever be on the reverse side of the North Star from the Plough and therefore often high in the sky, when the Plough is low or obscured.

Having constitute the N Star, there is something about its height in a higher place the horizon that is well worth knowing. Wherever y'all are in the northern hemisphere, the Due north Star will exist the same angle above the horizon as your latitude. This can be measured accurately using a sextant, but an estimate can be fabricated using an outstretched fist. We are all different shapes and sizes, but we share proportions. An outstretched fist makes an angle of shut to 10 degrees for most people. In an nether a minute and with just your bare hands y'all tin at present notice north and estimate your latitude.

The constellation, Orion, rises in the due east and sets in the westward. Orion's belt, the only iii bright stars that class a brusk straight line in the whole night sky rising very close to due east and set very close to due westward. If you want to exist really accurate then the offset star in the belt to rise and prepare, called Mintaka, will always rise and set up within 1 degree of true east and west wherever y'all are in the globe.

Lots more data about these methods and lots of others can exist plant in my books.

They also contains lots of information on using the sun, moon, plants and animals to help you discover your way, on land or at sea or even in the city.

For a video tutorial on how to apply these methods, please see the online course, The Beginner'south Guide to Natural Navigation.