Finding Polaris

[dirty_g]

Hi I don't want to sound a fool. But whenever I draw the imaginary line form URSA MAJOR to try and find Polaris I always see lots of stars that could be Polaris. I am never sure exatclt which one it is. I can never see URSA MINOR in the sky ever so find it hard to know which star is Polaris.

[jt-3d]

It's not really a significant star. Mag 2 according to Skyglobe. I'm fortunate that it sits a little bit above my roof so I have a reference to find it. And I do use it for an alignment star if I can't easily find a second star to use. It would be the one that is in the same place everytime you look for it.

[PhantomWolf]

I had trouble. Last year when I had my 6 weeks in the US I got one night that was okay for observing, and even then the light poplution from Omaha over the river was terrible. I love the darkness I have here and how I can see the Milky Way, both Magellanic Clouds and even Globular Cluster 47 Tucanae all with the naked eye. I was really disappointed with the view conditions I could get in the States. :( (not having my own car to get away from the cities didn't help a lot)

[dirty_g]

Also every night I have free to do what I want is always a cloudy as heck night! Murphys Law some might say.

[hhEb09'1]

Hi I don't want to sound a fool. But whenever I draw the imaginary line form URSA MAJOR to try and find Polaris I always see lots of stars that could be Polaris. I am never sure exatclt which one it is. I can never see URSA MINOR in the sky ever so find it hard to know which star is Polaris.You're in a place where the skies are so dark, that it's difficult to make out the constellations, right? Too bad, that must be tough :)

If you know where true north is from your location, Polaris should be the same number of degrees above the horizon as your latitude. That'll get you in the ballpark.

[Jeff Root]

hh already said what I was going to say, but I'll say it anyway.
If you have trouble identifying Polaris because there are too many
stars, you got a @$#&! good problem! Looking out my windows,
As often as not, Polaris is the only star I can see!

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

[jouster]

hh already said what I was going to say, but I'll say it anyway.
If you have trouble identifying Polaris because there are too many
stars, you got a @$#&! good problem! Looking out my windows,
As often as not, Polaris is the only star I can see!

-- Jeff, in Minneapolis

Yeah, I'd take that problem.

[Maksutov]

Funny, here in N MS, if it's clear and I can see 3rd magnitude stars, it takes me about one second to find Polaris. I guess being well-acquainted with the constellation patterns is a plus here.

Also having been in incredibly clear, dark skies (N. Arizona, 14000 feet up in Colorado, the woods of N. Maine), despite the profusion of stars, Polaris was always easily identifiable as the last star in the handle of the "Little Dipper".

If you know the local time/UT, and adjust for the displacement of Polaris from the actual north celestial pole, then setting your scope up accurately is no problem.

[Bojan]

Sometimes people think that Pleiades are Ursa Major... Not once (when I lived in Europe) I had to tell them that Ursa Major is much bigger and on the different part of the sky :-)
Are you sure you are not one of them? :-)

[dirty_g]

No I certainly know how to identify the Pleadies. I have located it easily now though. Still I can't make out Ursa Minor at all.

[aurora]

Most stars in ursa minor are dim. If you have moderate light pollution, there are at least one of the stars you won't be able to see at all.

In addition to Polaris, the next brightest are the ones at the end of the cup.

[Kelfazin]

I live in Phoenix...I've never seen Ursa Minor lol. There are a lot of nights I can't make out anything except Polaris and one or two others, and that's with the bulk of the city (and it's confounded lights) to the east of me. Makes me sad.

[BISMARCK]

I live in Manhattan, so this is pretty much a non-issue for me.

[PhantomWolf]

Looking out my windows, As often as not, Polaris is the only star I can see!

Have you tried cleaning them?

[aurora]

Looking out my windows, As often as not, Polaris is the only star I can see!

Have you tried cleaning them?

This struck me as an odd quote, as well. Polaris is second magnitude, so I wonder if the OP'er is really looking north?

[hhEb09'1]

This struck me as an odd quote, as well. Polaris is second magnitude, so I wonder if the OP'er is really looking north?The quote wasn't from the OP though, it was from Jeff. He's probably referring to the fact that Polaris is the brightest star within 30 degrees of Polaris--so if he is looking north, that is the only star he sees, when seeing is bad.