Thames & Kosmos TK1 User Manual page 31

VIEWING
The night sky in
autumn
YOU WILL NEED
› Star chart
› Red-light flashlight
› Warm jacket
HERE'S HOW:
1. At this time of year, you will find the Big
Dipper low above the northern horizon.
2. If you connect the two right stars of the
dipper's ladle and extend that line upward,
you will come to the North Star. It will be the
brightest star in the Little Dipper
constellation.
3. Keep extending this same line the same
distance again beyond the North Star and you
will come to the constellation of Cassiopeia.
It will be riding high in the sky and looks like
the letter "M." If you look at it from the other
side, it looks like a "W."
Hercules
Big
Dipper
Li le
Dipper
(Ursa Major)
North Star
Lacerta
Auriga
DID YOU KNOW?
Draco
The North Star is positioned exactly above Earth's axis. It
Cygnus
is the only star in the sky that doesn't move, always
remaining in the same place. The stars around it are
called circumpolar stars (literally, "around the pole
Cepheus
star" — the North Star is also known as a pole star, or
Polaris). While they do move, they never set. So you can
Cassiopeia
always see them on any clear night.
Perseus
Identifying Constellations in the Sky
Andromeda Galaxy
Lacerta
Zenith
Cepheus
Cygnus
Draco
Li le
Dipper
Mizar/
Alcor
Triangulum
Cassiopeia
Perseus
North Star
Big Dipper
North
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