- 1). Wait for darkness to fall on a clear (or mostly clear) night.
- 2). Locate the Big Dipper (Ursa Major). The Big Dipper is made up of seven main stars, all rather bright, which together form a dipping bowl and handle.
- 3). In your mind's eye, draw a straight line connecting the two stars that form the bottom edge of the dipper's bowl, beginning with the second-to-last star and ending with the last star--the edge of the bowl. Now keep the line going, straight as always, and your eyes will run into the North Star. It is located about five times as far from the dipper's bowl as the bottom two stars are apart.
- 4). To make sure you've found the North Star, look now for the constellation Cassiopeia. It is composed of five bright stars, and forms the shape of a leaning letter M (or a W, at times, depending on your own location). The North Star is level with and straight out from the center star of Cassiopeia.
- 5). Look at the star you think is the North Star. Is it about equidistant from both the Big Dipper and Cassiopeia? If the answer is yes, then you've found it. Walk towards it and you'll be walking north. Behind you is south, to the right is east, and to the left is west.
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