Where can you see the little dipper and the big dipper?

Question

Is it possible to see the little dipper and the big dipper in Southern California?

Answer 1

The big dipper is low against the horizon this time of year, for most of the night. Before dawn, it is easy to see, rising in the northeast. The two end stars of the "pot" in the big dipper are sometimes called the "pointers." A line from them leads almost directly to Polaris. As Cirric said. that is the end point of the handle of the little dipper. It is also the brightest star. Now if you move off from it, toward the big dipper, you will see two stars next to each other. These are the two end stars of the pot of the little dipper. The other stars which make up the little dipper are quite faint and the whole thing is basically, well, not worth looking at.

Note, the small patchy bunch of stars ahead of Orion are NOT the little dipper. They are the Pleiades. This is a very common mistake.

Answer 2

Yes you can see both on a clear night, preferably away from city lights.

Locate north. You can do this during the day with a compass or GPS. At night, look north about 30-40 degrees up from the horizon (straight up is 90 degrees, so look about half-way to straight up). If you know the pattern of stars which make up the dippers, you should easily see the Big Dipper. The Little Dipper is harder to spot.

If you do not know what the pattern looks like, go to Wikipedia, the free, online encyclopedia at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_dipper
to learn what the star pattern looks like.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

You have to be north of the equator.

You must be able to see the northern part of the sky.

You must have a relatively dark sky (the big dipper is easy to see, but most of the little dipper's stars are fainter). Which, of course, forces you to look up at night... (I know, poor joke).

The little dipper begins at its tail (the pole star) and goes towards the tail of the big dipper.

Answer 4

Hi. Yes. They should both be visible. Polaris, the north star, is the last star in the handle of the little dipper, and the little dipper 'pours' into the big dipper. This free program http://www.stellarium.com/ is one of my favorites.

Answer 5

yes you can see the little dipper and the big dipper in south california

you can pretty much see it anywhere in the sky when it is dark and the stars are out