Week of August 24-30, 2025
Two easy-to-find star groupings appear during late summer and early autumn. You can see them by going outdoors and facing north during early evening hours.
Look low in the northwest for the seven equally bright stars of the Big Dipper. Many people call this a constellation, but the Dipper is only part of a much larger constellation known as Ursa Major, the great bear. Interestingly, many cultures throughout history saw this celestial region as representing a bear.
The ancient Greeks described the Dipper's "bowl" portion as defining the bear's hind end and its "handle" as the long tail. I don't know about you, but I've never seen a bear with a long tail. So how did the Greeks explain this anatomical oddity? When Zeus tossed the bear into the heavens, they said, he did so by swinging it by the tail, thus stretching it out into its current length. Those ancient Greeks had answers for everything!
Seeing a bear, though, is another matter altogether. That's why the Dipper is such a handy "asterism" — a group of stars that looks like something familiar. And the Big Dipper is useful for finding the second easy-to-recognize star grouping: Cassiopeia (cass-ee-OH-pee-uh).
This one you'll find low in the northeastern sky. Rather than looking for the image of an ancient Ethiopian queen and mother of Andromeda, you'll have better luck finding five stars that outline a nicely formed letter "W."
Midway between these two star groupings lies Polaris, aka the North Star, easily the most important star of our night sky. That's because, at this time in history, Polaris happens to stand directly above our planet's north pole, so when you face this star, you're facing true north. Keep in mind that your compass won't point this way; it's designed to point toward the magnetic North Pole, which, to much of North America, appears farther to the east.
In addition, the Earth's rotational axis aims almost directly toward Polaris, so during the advancing hours of the night (and seasons of the year), this star never changes its position, while all the northern stars seem to revolve counterclockwise around it. That's pretty handy, since we in the Northern Hemisphere have a unique direction finder available at all times.
You can use the Big Dipper to point your way toward Polaris by following two stars of its bowl (the two farthest from the handle) from its base to its top, and extend that line about five times their separation. There, you'll find Polaris. And, if you continue that line forward to the other side of Polaris, you'll encounter the easternmost star of Cassiopeia's "W."
What could be easier!
Notice that Polaris lies almost midway between the two asterisms. As the sky turns during the night (or through the seasons), you'll see that the Dipper and Cassiopeia wheel counterclockwise around this star.
Keep an eye on them over the next few weeks, and you'll watch the Dipper gradually descend in the northwestern sky while the "W" ascends in the northeast. By next spring, you'll be able to welcome the Big Dipper back to the northeastern sky while bidding Cassiopeia farewell until next fall.
Visit Dennis Mammana at dennismammana.com. To read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at creators.com.
Photo courtesy of Dennis Mammana
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