How to find Cassiopeia
When to look
October, November, December, January evenings
Face north, high up
Five stars in a W (or an M, depending on the time of night). All year, in the north. High up on autumn and early winter evenings, opposite the Big Dipper. The drawing below is made from the real positions of its 5 stars, as the sky looks when you face it, with bigger dots for brighter stars. No telescope needed.
Cassiopeia is five stars in a W. It's in the north. When it's high up, it looks like an M.
Cassiopeia sits across the North Star from the Big Dipper, so when one is low, the other is high. In autumn and early winter evenings its W is high in the north, an easy find even from a town.
The W lies along the Milky Way, so binoculars sweeping past it show crowds of faint stars and star clusters. Like the Big Dipper, it never sets from most of the United States.
The stars in it
Caph, Schedar, Gamma, Ruchbah, Segin. The brightest is Schedar.
How to find it
- Go out after dark with a grown-up, and give your eyes ten minutes away from screens.
- Face north, high up and look for: five stars in a W (or an M, depending on the time of night).
- Hold up this page's drawing or the printed card and match the shape to the sky. If the sky is clear.
More star patterns
“Star patterns turn through the night, so the shape may be tipped on its side. Turn your head, not the sky.”