A stray dog in the park showed me the best way to find the North Star

I was trying to spot Polaris near the swings in Miller Park, and a loose beagle kept staring at the same spot in the sky. I followed its gaze and realized I'd been looking at the wrong 'pointer' star in the Big Dipper the whole time. Anyone have a better trick for lining up those two front stars?

3 comments

3 Comments

simonmoore24d ago

That bit about the dog staring at the same spot is funny. I use a similar trick but with my own hand. Make a fist and hold it up at arm's length. The distance from your pointer knuckle to your pinky knuckle is about ten degrees. You can use that to hop from the Big Dipper's pointer stars straight to Polaris. It's not perfect, but it works better than just guessing.

sage28624d ago

Oh that hand trick is GENIUS, I'm totally trying that next time I'm outside. I used to just hold up a finger and guess, which was always way off. Your method sounds way more solid for actually finding the North Star without any tools. It's cool how these little body hacks make stargazing so much easier.

david_henderson617d ago

Honestly I just use the whole dipper itself as a ruler. The distance between those two pointer stars is about five times the gap to Polaris. So I trace an imaginary line from the bottom star, through the top one, and just step that same distance five times out. It's way more reliable than trying to judge angles. That dog probably had the right idea just locking onto one spot.