Today, because the seven stars of Ursa Minor look like a small water dipper, most people refer to Ursa Minor as the Little Dipper instead of the Little Bear.

The most commonly used pointer stars are Merak and Dubhe, the two stars on the edge of the Big Dipper opposite its handle. By following these stars in the direction of the Big Dipper’s mouth, you can find Polaris. If you go five times the Merak-Dubhe distance away from Dubhe you will be within three degrees of Polaris. If Polaris is clouded over, you still know where it is. During the times of night when the Big Dipper is below the horizon, such as the early hours of fall, you can use another method. Find the Great Square of Pegasus. Measure the distance from Alpheratz (visually a part of Pegasus but actually part of the constellation Andromeda), to Caph, the star at the rightmost edge of the W-shaped constellation Cassiopeia. In line with Alpheratz and Caph, measure another of these distances. You will be less than three degrees from Polaris. And, like the previous method, you do not need to see Polaris. [3] X Research source Star Identification. Naval Air Training Command, Navigation Section, January 1951.

If you don’t have a quadrant or sextant, you can approximate the angle by extending your fist to the horizon and stacking fists hand-over-hand until you reach the North Star. Your extended fist is approximately 10 degrees of angle measure. [4] X Research source

In the Northern Hemisphere, Orion is visible chiefly in the winter and early spring, but can be seen late at night in the fall or before sunrise in the summer.

The fuzzy “star” is actually the Great Nebula of Orion, an interstellar nursery where new stars are being formed. [6] X Research source

The Southern Cross is so important a constellation that it is depicted on the flags of Australia and New Zealand. However, it not particularly large. (It is only one degree longer than the distance between the pointer stars in the Big Dipper. ) That’s what makes the pointer stars (Rigel Kentaurus and Hadar) so important. They keep you from locking in on the False Cross, which is nearby and just a little bigger.

(optionally) Improve your accuracy by finding the two “pointers” to the southern cross and drawing a line through them. Then take a line perpendicular from the middle of that and extend it to intersect with the line drawn from the Southern Cross. Where they intersect is directly above south. Drawing a line through the two stars of the crosspiece will point you to the star Alpha Centauri, the closest star to Earth after the sun. [10] X Research source Star Identification. Naval Air Training Command, Navigation Section, January 1951

If the star rose, you’re facing east. If the star sank, you’re facing west. If the star moved to the left, you’re facing north. If the star moved to the right, you’re facing south. [12] X Research source