Navigate Safely By Using The North Star

  • Once you've found the North Star, most of the battle is over. You can then accurately create a compass that can lead you back home. Even if you always travel with a compass, you could easily lose it or find that it's acting up. As a result, it's always good to have this skill to double-check the direction in which you're traveling.

    There are forty-seven stars that are brighter than the North Star.  The North Star is at the end of the handle of the constellation we call the Little Dipper. One of these is the constellation that we call the Big Dipper. If you draw a straight line through the two stars at the end of the cup in the dipper, the line will point toward the North Star.

    The Big Dipper may not be visible to you. Cassiopeia also revolves around the North Star and is located on the opposite side of the North Star from the Big Dipper.

    Once you have located the North Star you can take a sharp stick and draw a line on the ground.  Draw the line from where you are standing so that it points toward the north.  Label the end of the line that points toward the star with an “N”.  Label the other end of the line with an “S”.  Now draw another line that crosses your north/south line at a ninety degree angle.  As you face the north, the right end of your second line will be pointing to the east.  Label it with an “E”.  Label the other end of this line with a “W”.

    Have you tried this method to find the North Star? Let us know if you have any other ways to determine direction when in the wilderness!

    Article Source: Survival Sherpa



    One Comment;

    1. Brad Colford said:

      The sun is a good source for directions. You shouldn’t be wandering around at night

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