How to Find the Time by the Stars

Fig. 1 shows the stars around the northern pole of the heavens (Pole Star), and the Pointers of the Great Bear, which direct us to the Pole Star.

Fig. 1.

Since all stars appear to rise in the East and set in the West (which is really due to our earth turning round under them), the Pointers revolve once around the Pole Star in the opposite direction to the hands of a clock, once in twenty-four hours, or they swing through a quarter of a circle once in six hours; it is thus a simple matter after a little practice to judge what part of the imaginary circle they will pass through in an hour or less.

Assuming that all the stars rise four minutes earlier each night, and that the Pointers of the Plough are vertically above the Pole at midnight at the end of February, we may calculate the position of the Pointers for any hour of the night.

The First Twenty Stars in Order of Brightness

Date of rising at 9 P.M. in the East.
1. Sirius, the Dog-starDec. 4
2. (Canopus, of the Ship)
3. (Alpha, of the Centaur)
4. Vega, of the LyreApril 1
5. Capella, of the CharioteerAug. 21
6. Arcturus, of the HerdsmanFeb. 20
7. Rigel, of OrionNov. 4
8. Procyon, the Little Dog-starNov. 27
9. (Achernar, of Eridanus)
10. (Beta, of the Centaur)
11. Altair, of the EagleMay 26
12. Betelgeux, of Orion's right shoulderOct. 30
13. (Alpha, of the Southern Cross)
14. Aldebaran, of the Bull's right eyeOct. 2
15. Pollux, of the TwinsNov. 4
16. Spica, of the VirginMar. 1
17. Antares, of the ScorpionMay 9
18. Fomalhaut, of the Southern FishAug. 27
19. Deneb, of the SwanApr. 22
20. Regulus, of the LionJan. 1

Orion

Then there is another set of stars representing a man wearing a sword and a belt, named "Orion." It is easily recognized by the three stars in line, which are the belt, and three smaller stars in another line, close by, which are the sword. Then two stars to right and left below the sword are his feet, while two more above the belt are his shoulders, and a group of three small stars between them make his head.

Now the great point about Orion is that by him you can always tell which way the North or Pole Star lies, and which way the South, as you can see him whether you are in the South or the North part of the world. The Great Bear can be seen only when you are in the North, and the Southern Cross when you are in the South.

If you draw a line by holding up your staff against the sky, from the center star of Orion's belt through the center of his head, and carry that line on through two big stars till it comes to a third, that third one is the North or Pole Star.

Then if you draw a line the other way, beginning again with the center star of the belt, and passing through the center star of the sword, your line goes through another group of stars shaped like the letter L. And if you go about as far again past L, you come to the South Pole, which unfortunately is not marked by any star. Roughly Orion's sword, the three small stars, points North and South.

East and West. Orion sets due west, and rises due east, so that, if you can catch him rising or setting, you know where the points of the compass are. Constellations, such as Orion, or the Bull, rise in the east, four minutes earlier each succeeding night—that is about half an hour earlier every Saturday.

Read The Song of the Fifty Stars by Arthur A. Carey, and try to find each star on a chart and then in the Heavens.