Confusion over what i'm looking at

[Zauriel]

Hey SGL, time for another newbie question I'm afraid I was out walking my dog this morning around 4am and looked to the sky as it was crisp and clear, heading north I looked at the sky and couldn't see polaris which even by my amateur eye I can normally find along with ursa minor tailing away from it, I looked up confused whilst the dog ran around casting my eyes slight to the north east I saw ursa minor and followed it to polaris in the east, am I just being a confused newbie? does this happen and I've never noticed it before due to never really looking at it in detail? or have I just gazed upon something completely different either way even with the naked eye it was bright and beautiful. I did a quick rough drawing this morning at clearly it's not to scale but I hope you get a rough idea of what I'm trying to get across.

star finding.docx

[Zauriel]

Sorry not sure how to add the picture as picture format

[Stu]

I suspect you have just got confused over what you are looking at. Polaris doesn't move from the north (well it does a tiny circle) and won't ever be in the east.

If you can do a sketch we can probably have a stab at what you saw.

If I had to guess I would say you followed the Plough (or Big Dipper) Asterism by mistake and ended up at Arcturus in the East. Much lower down than Polaris.

[Zauriel]

Thanks, I assumed I was looking at the wrong thing it was the whole confusion in my mind being 4am does that but will try and re load the picture again.

[Zauriel]

star finding.docx - sorry not sure how to do it every time I've tried I get that

[Ricochet]

Your camera would have saved the picture in an image format. If you upload that file instead of copying the picture into a Word document it will display in line.

This is the Stellarium render of the north view from Taunton at 4AM. With the atmospheric extinction it is probably a bit easier to compare to your drawing. I agree with @Stu that the Big Dipper (part of Ursa Major) and perhaps Arcturus (the bright star on the right hand side of the image) are the most likely candidates for what you were looking at. Polaris is the star in the very centre of the image just to the left of the green line. With these light pollution settings (which are lower than the Stellarium choice) you can really only make out two other stars in Ursa Minor.

[Stu]

40 minutes ago, Zauriel said:

star finding.docx - sorry not sure how to do it every time I've tried I get that

I can see that now. I'm afraid I can't work it out. Ursa Minor was in the position you drew in the first diagram, but I don't recognise the orientation of the second. Maybe get up again tomorrow at 4am and check  

[Zauriel]

Thanks for all the input no doubt i'll be walking the dog again tomorrow around this time so will definitely have a better look for it and hopefully get better recordings of what I saw. Either way I appreciate the help no doubt eventually i'll find out exactly what I was looking at. 

[Zauriel]

@Ricochet thanks for the stellarium pic there and I'd know tend to agree im pretty sure this is what I saw this morning looks very similar with the big dipper and a brighter star to the east, really has me intrigued for more clear nights I'm out this evening and wont be back until around 23.00 so fingers crossed I can venture straight out when I get home.

[Zauriel]

This was the bright star I could see, not a great pic being it was taken with my phone  that being said you people who know what you're looking at will probably tell me that's not even a star.

[Ricochet]

3 minutes ago, Zauriel said:

@Ricochet thanks for the stellarium pic there and I'd know tend to agree im pretty sure this is what I saw this morning looks very similar with the big dipper and a brighter star to the east, really has me intrigued for more clear nights I'm out this evening and wont be back until around 23.00 so fingers crossed I can venture straight out when I get home.

At 23:00 the skies should be darker and you should be able to see more stars (if your local council is one that turns street lights off after midnight that will be even better). I suggest starting with a constellation you can easily pick out and then spending 10-15 minutes at the beginning and end of each session trying to identify a constellation. Start with one you know and the next time find that one and the one next to it. For example you you can pick out the big dipper so try to progress from seeing the big dipper to seeing the whole of Ursa Major, then follow the line made by the end of the "pan" in the big dipper to Polaris and from there identify Ursa Minor. Orion is quite recognisable so you could start with Orion and then progress to Taurus and Auriga 

As for the photo of the star, if you were facing east then it is probably Arcturus, as that is the brightest star in that part of the sky and you can't see any others in that picture.

[JOC]

Just as an outside guess looking at your sketch and comparing it to stellarium I wonder if what you have drawn is casseopia or cepheus, both seem to have a set of four stars and seem associated with a tail of stars which might be constued as leading to Polaris.  The layout of your stars might be either, but I think looks more like casseopia.  I don't think you actually mean that what you thought was Polaris was literally in the East only that it was to the right of the group of stars you saw.  Casseopia looks very similar to the group of 4 stars you have drawn.  More so than either of the big or little dippers.

[rockystar]

 Has Lyra 're-surfaced at that time?  Could it be Vega? That would be a bright star in the east

[JOC]

NB.  If the OP was out walking the dog, maybe there was also some confusion as to where the East was.  If they saw what they thought was Polaris to the right of a group of 4 stars that they incorrectly identified as the plough maybe they just thought it was the East?

[25585]

Polaris is not that bright, but good to have it. How S Hemisphere people find their celestial pole is a mystery.