Short Planetarium Guide
Northern Sky Constellations and Stars
The easiest constellation to find is the Big Dipper in the northern sky. The two stars on
the end of the cup of the dipper can be used as pointer stars to find most of the other
constellations of in the northern sky.
Draw a line depicting water pouring out of the cup. Follow this line three fist widths (at
arms length) to Polaris, the north star, at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper.
Polaris lies directly above the north geographic pole of the earth, so it remains in the same
place in the sky as the northern constellations rotate counter-clockwise around it.
Continue the line from the Big Dipper past Polaris another 2 fist widths to the top star of
the hat of Cepheus, the king. The original cepheid variable star was found in and named
for Cepheus.
Take a right turn at Cepheus and continue about 1 and a half fist widths to Cassiopeia, the
queen.
Find the point half-way between the cups of the little and big dippers. This is where the
tail of Draco, the dragon, starts. Draco curls around the Little Dipper almost to Cepheus,
then doubles back to end up at four stars forming the head of the dragon.
Just off the head of Draco is a small constellation called Lyra which contains the star
Vega. Vega will be our north star in about 6000 years as earth wobbles slowly on its axis.
The constellation Cygnus, the swan, can be found by extending a line from the top of
Cepheus' hat through the back of his head (the side away from the queen) about 2 fist
widths below the base of his head. The bright star at the tail of Cygnus is Deneb, one of
the most luminous stars in our part of the galaxy. If it was as close as the stars Pollux or
Arcturus (35 LY away) it would seem as bright as the moon.
The last major northern constellation is Bo”tes, the herdsman, although it looks a lot like
an ice cream cone. The tip of the ice cream cone is the star Arcturus. To find Arcturus,
follow the arc of the handle of the Big Dipper to the first bright star. Arcturus is an
orange giant star.
Southern Sky Constellations and Stars
To find the principle constellations of the Winter southern sky, trace a line along the
handle of the Little Dipper across the sky until you reach the constellation Orion, the
hunter.
Orion contains several bright stars: two shoulders, two knees, and three stars forming its
belt. The upper left shoulder (from our point of view) is the star Betelgeuse. It is a red
(cool) supergiant star, big enough to engulf the planet Mars if it was our sun. The right
side knee is the star Rigel, an extremely hot, blue star, hundreds of times more luminous
than our sun.
Above and to the right of Orion is Taurus, the bull with its small triangular head.
Above and to the left of Orion is the constellation Gemini, the twins.
Follow the belt of Orion away from Taurus and you will reach Canis Major, Orion's
larger hunting dog. It contains the star Sirius, the brightest star in our night sky. It
actually is not very luminous, being very similar to our sun. However, it is so close, 8.5
LY, that it appears even brighter than Rigel or Deneb.
Directly above the head of Orion is the constellation Auriga. Its brightest star, Capella,
actually is a solar system with 10 different suns.
Trace a line from Taurus through Gemini and you will come to Leo, the lion. It may look
more like a horse. It is marked by the backwards question mark that forms its head and
neck. At the base of the question mark is the small blue (hot) star Regulus.
To find the easy to see constellations of the Fall southern sky, trace a line from Cepheus
through Cygnus along the band of the milky way.
The first major constellation you reach is Aquila, the eagle, marked by the massive, white
star Altair. Altair is quite close, about 17 LY away.
The next constellation along this line is Sagittarius, the archer. To most people, it looks
more like a small teapot. One of the constellations of the Zodiac, it also lies on the plane
of the Milky Way, our galaxy, and its spout points almost directly towards the centre of
our galaxy.
Earlier in the year, a few fists widths off the point of the spout of Sagittarius is the
constellation Scorpius, the scorpion. The shape of this constellation is quite easy to see,
with its long body and two curving claws. A bright red star at the back of the scorpion's
head is Antares, another red supergiant star. In the spring, you can find Scorpius at the
eastern horizon when Leo is high is the southern sky.
A very similar shaped constellation between Scorpio and Leo is Virgo, the maiden. Virgo
contains a bright blue star, Spica.
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