how can i tell which constellations I'm seeing in my backyard?

Question

I just moved to a new house sorta in the country and sometimes at night I see all sorts of stars in the sky buy I cannot tell while constellations I'm looking at. Is their a way to determine this anyhow?

Answer 1

Of course. You may print out a star map to guide you, or you may receive one when subscribing to a certain magazine. There are also certain programs you may download to your computer to guide you, such as Stellarium. You may register at skyandtelescope.com to view their free sky charts, as well as receive one if you subscribe to Astronomy magazine.

Answer 2

I know what you mean, going from a 3.5 to a 5 magnitude sky can be daunting, because of the few extra thousand stars up there.
The first thing that you have to do is orientate yourself to the directions of North, South, East, and West. The best way to do, is to find the end stars of Ursa Major the (big dipper) and follow the pointer 5 lengths due North. This star is Polaris. (North Star). Get a star chart and start with the circumpolar constellations and work around the zodiac until you get a feel for where the stars are. If you stay up for a while you’ll see that the stars and planets rise in the East and set in the West.
May you have clear skies.

Answer 3

Get yourself a planisphere, sometimes called a star wheel. This is a star map with a rotating dial which you can set to the current date and time, and it will show you exactly what constellations are in the sky and where they're located. About $10 in most good book stores.

Answer 4

Get some sky charts and learn them. It's a lot easier to see them on paper with lines drawn through them. Once you get used to some easy ones, go look for them in the sky at night. If you stay up until about midnight, you'll get the easiest one of all to find rising up in the east: Orion.

Other easy ones for beginners: Cassiopea (in the North - shaped like an M), the big dipper (also in the North), the Northern Cross (currently setting in the NW in the mid-evening), and Taurus (currently rising in the East about an hour before midnight - shaped like a V).

Look these up, and familiarize yourself with their shapes. Then go look for them in the night sky. Orion is by far the easiest because it is so bright and so simply shaped.

Happy stargazing!

P.S. GeoffG - I had one of those when I was a kid. It glowed in the dark to help practice seeing just the dots. It really did help a lot.

Answer 5

Print out a skychart from this site:
http://www.heavens-above.com/
Punch in your location and date and time. And off you go.