One of the earliest activities we engaged in when we first got into astronomy is similar one we like to show our kids just as quickly as their excitement about the night sky starts to surface.

That is the fun of finding constellations. But finding constellations and using them to navigate the sky is a discipline that goes back almost to the start of man. Essentially, we have cavern photos to show the more primitive of human societies could "see pictures" in the sky and ascribe to them importance.

Early explorers, especially by sea, relied completely on the night sky to help them find their way to their destination. When learning to find the great constellations in the sky, we use the "find one, you found them all" system. That is as the easiest constellation to find will guide us to the remainder of them. Look to the northern sky on a clear night and dilate your field of vision from just concentrating on one star and it will just about jump out at you. In will look like a massive kitchen pot or ladle, right side up in the autumn, the other way up in the spring. When you have the gigantic dipper under control, you can pretty simply find the North Star.

This is the star that those traditional sailors relied on the most to find their way to land. Begin with the far edge of the bowl of the Enormous Dipper, the side that is opposite the handle. There are 2 stars that make up that side of the bowl.

So start at the base of the pot and mentally draw a line to the top star of the bowl. These 2 stars are "pointing" to the North Star. Just keep following that line, curving a bit with the sky and the bright star that you come to is the North Star. You can inspire your pals or family if you know the systematic name for this star is Polaris. The North Star can then take you to The Small Dipper. The key here is that Polaris is the end of the handle of The Tiny Dipper and the bowl hangs down from the handle like it was hanging up in the kitchen. Have patience with this one as the stars that make up The Tiny Dipper are dimmer than The Gigantic Dipper.

These are the clear beginning places but from The Tiny Dipper you'll find the constellation known as "The Swan" or Cygnus. Just use the same system you once found The North Star but continue drawing that line that commenced in those pointer stars in the bowl of The Gigantic Dipper. Go about half as far as you went to find Polaris and you are there. You'll see a trapezoid of stars about the size of The Massive Dipper. This trapezoid forms the tail of The Swan. That line that we are drawing from the pointer stars is our roadmap to another famous constellation which is Cassiopeia.

If you use that line and say you are at once under the 2 pointer stars, you may se a gigantic "W" just off to the left of the line. This is the constellation Cassiopeia, the other half of the king of Egypt, Cepheus, in Greek mythology. There are such a lot of more superb constellations to find and a good star map can continue your search. Like Cassiopeia, all the constellations have glorious stories and legends related to Greek culture. It is just as fun to find the star clusters themselves as it is to enjoy the wealthy culture related to that constellation. For all the indications of the zodiac, for example, there's a related constellation in the sky.