REHEARSE AND RELOCATE

8 How can you possibly remember the names of the 5,000 or so visible stars in the night sky? The truth is you can’t, but you can learn to navigate the night sky quite easily. It’s all about getting into good habits. When you step outside into the darkness at your usual stargazing location – most likely your back garden – take a few minutes to identify major constellations and bright stars that are easily visible to you. At the beginning of your learning you might pick out the

Big Dipper one week, the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia the next week and in the third week use both of those constellations to find Polaris, the North Star. Even when you’re semi-experienced in stargazing rehearsing what you already know is useful, particularly when done in a new location or somewhere you do not usually observe from.