Very old post about finding stars and constellations?

October 5, 2015 6:57 PM

Ok, this is a long shot, but many years ago, I think there was a post linking to a kind of constellation primer (Northern hemisphere) where you started by finding the Big Dipper and used that to find Polaris, which allowed you to find other constellations, etc. Any old timers recall this one?
posted by gwint to MetaFilter-Related at 6:57 PM (6 comments total)

There's a post from July 26th, 2007 called Learn star navigation in 15 mins which might be what you are thinking of, but it looks like the page the FPP points to is defunct. I searched my favorites for "Polaris" to find that post.
posted by Rob Rockets at 7:16 PM on October 5, 2015 [2 favorites]

Damn! I think that was it Rob, and archive.org didn't grab it either. Aaarg, damn you brittle internet.
posted by gwint at 7:25 PM on October 5, 2015 [1 favorite]

(Although searching for "Learn to navigate using the stars in 15 minutes" got me to How to navigate using the Stars which has some of the info I remember from the original site)
posted by gwint at 7:29 PM on October 5, 2015

Just a heads-up, when I went to the original linked site (i.e. clicked on the link in that FPP), it redirected me to some kind of scammy page with undismissable popups -- so don't just go-aclickin'.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 7:42 PM on October 5, 2015

I don't remember that post, but I am a retired maritime navigator, and back when I was training Navy quartermasters I would have killed for a program like Star Walk 2 on the Ipad. It does such a great job of presenting the basics-- so much better than the old plastic, analog Rude Star Finder I had to make do with years ago. Sorry I can't help with finding the FPP you want, but wanted to let you know there have been some great advances in teaching basic celestial navigation since then. Good luck!
posted by seasparrow at 7:46 PM on October 5, 2015 [9 favorites]

This book, "The Stars" by H.A. Rey, will show you exactly how to do that and much, much more. I believe it is a "must have" for every library and home.
posted by Lynsey at 10:09 AM on October 6, 2015 [5 favorites]