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To find one's bearings watching the heavenly vault
it's good to start always from the Major Bear, which being a circumpolar constellation,
it's all year long seable.
At first night, as soon as it becomes dark, we are gonna find it during Summer watching to West;
during Fall we'll find it low on the Northern horizon, during Winter it'll start to arise from
East, and eventually in the Springtime we will see it almost over our heads exactly, being
in its zenit practically.
Look at the Sky Map page to see the Four Seasons different sky, with the Major Bear and
the Minor Bear identified by a light green colour.
Now let's join with a mental line the two first stars of the Big Wagon of the Major Bear,
the alpha and beta of the constellation, named Dubhe and Merak; let's make it goin on from Dubhe
for a lenght equal to five times the distance between the two stars and at the end we are gonna
impact to a star of a second magnitudo: the Polar Star, the one around which it whirls all the
heavenly vault.
With the help of the drawning aside let's see the six stars which cretes the Minor Bear,
with the two most brilliant which are opposite to the Polar one, Kochab and Pherkad. |
