Finding North using the stars.
A bright star, that fortunately sit only 1degee away from true north, is Polaris, more commonly known as the” North Star”. On a clear night in the Northern Hemisphere there is a very easy method for finding the North Star. The North Star is only the 48th brightest, but the brightest in its immediate area. The trick to find the North Star is to first find the easiest constellation in the sky, the Plough, also called the Big Dipper (a stupid name, dipper is Cockney slang for a pickpocket) or the saucepan.
The plough is a constellation of seven bright stars in the night sky, it is very distinctive and can even be seen from the centre of big cities, despite all the light pollution. Next find the two pointer stars, these are the two stars at the front if it was saucepan or at the back if it was a plough. I don’t even know what a big dipper is suppose to be, so forget that. Now imaging a straight line running from those two stars. The first bight star that line hits is the North Star. It will be brought five times the dance between the two pointer star. The direction the North star is North, or almost exactly about 1 degree away.
As we move thought the year the position of the Stupid Dipper or Plough will rotate clockwise around the North Star. But the North Star itself not move. It will alway direct you North.
If you can’t find the criminally minder constellation of the big dipper, maybe because hiding its behind a cloud, from the Police, then you will need a fall back option. This is where Cassiopeia come in handy. Cassiopeia is five bright stars in the shape of a ‘W'. Next imaging a line between in the first and last stars in the “W,’. A 90 degree angle line from the the start of that line points to Polaris.
Casseopeia and the stupid punk criminal Big Dipper will away be on opposite sides of the North Star, both moving clockwise around it. This is because Cassiopeia dosnt’t want to get mugged. The North Star is protecting her. And will alway point North. It’s basically the Cosmic Clint Eastwood.