Neat animation. I notice you have lots of forest around so you won’t be able to see Polaris until it’s high up and mixed with other stars. How do you polar align? I’m new to this and at my house by the time I see Polaris I can’t differentiate it from the other stars to be able to polar align.
Polaris is the one start that doesn’t rise. It’s always at the same height at the same spot. Learning the constellations of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major is a great first step into observing the night sky.
Finding the big dipper (the seven bright stars of Ursa Major) is usually very easy. Then you just follow the line formed by Merak and Dubhe until you find Polaris.
I didn’t think about that it doesn’t move in the sky. That’s definitely going to change my perspective on this. I was able to generally find where it should be due to the big dipper but had trouble figuring out quite which star it was
Polaris is pretty easy to find, and it shouldn’t really change its position in the sky much. Basically, find the big dipper, find the forward two stars of the cup, and then follow the line they make away from the bottom of the cup. In about two outstretched fists, more or less, you’ll arrive at a fairly unremarkable star that’s more or less on its own (you’ll see fewer or more companions depending on your light pollution). If you’re asking yourself “is that particular star right there Polaris?” the answer is likely yes. If you’re asking “which one of these is Polaris?” and you’re not in an especially light pollution free area, you probably messed up and you should try again.
If you get close enough and feed a camera feed through some guiding software to make corrections it becomes far less important to be spot on, especially at short focal lengths
Neat animation. I notice you have lots of forest around so you won’t be able to see Polaris until it’s high up and mixed with other stars. How do you polar align? I’m new to this and at my house by the time I see Polaris I can’t differentiate it from the other stars to be able to polar align.
Polaris is the one start that doesn’t rise. It’s always at the same height at the same spot. Learning the constellations of Ursa Minor and Ursa Major is a great first step into observing the night sky.
Finding the big dipper (the seven bright stars of Ursa Major) is usually very easy. Then you just follow the line formed by Merak and Dubhe until you find Polaris.
I didn’t think about that it doesn’t move in the sky. That’s definitely going to change my perspective on this. I was able to generally find where it should be due to the big dipper but had trouble figuring out quite which star it was
Polaris is pretty easy to find, and it shouldn’t really change its position in the sky much. Basically, find the big dipper, find the forward two stars of the cup, and then follow the line they make away from the bottom of the cup. In about two outstretched fists, more or less, you’ll arrive at a fairly unremarkable star that’s more or less on its own (you’ll see fewer or more companions depending on your light pollution). If you’re asking yourself “is that particular star right there Polaris?” the answer is likely yes. If you’re asking “which one of these is Polaris?” and you’re not in an especially light pollution free area, you probably messed up and you should try again.
Thank you for the tips and advice. I’ll reference this next time I go out
If you get close enough and feed a camera feed through some guiding software to make corrections it becomes far less important to be spot on, especially at short focal lengths