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DAE notice people blame Polaris for everything when it's usually a different star?
I finally figured out why my neighbor keeps saying he found north by the wrong star, and it took a cheap planisphere and one clear Friday night in my driveway to see it. He was lining up with the bright one low in the sky, which is usually Capella or Vega depending on the season, not Polaris. Polaris sits pretty dim and close to the Little Dipper's handle end, so it never moves much while the rest of the sky wheels around it. That slow drift is the whole trick, in my experience. I tested it 3 nights in a row with a compass and my phone level, and the real pole star stayed put within a finger's width the whole time while the other bright ones slid across the yard. Your mileage may vary depending on how much light pollution you have, since dim Polaris can wash out in a city. Has anyone else run into this with folks mixing up the big bright stars for the north one, or am I the only one fielding this question from the fence line?
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oliviahenderson12d ago
The part about Polaris sitting close to the Little Dipper's handle end isn't quite right. It's actually at the very end of the handle, basically the last star on the tail. The two stars on the far side of the bowl, the ones opposite the handle, are the pointers that aim you at Polaris. Easy mix-up though, since the whole thing is small and dim.
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