One of the first activities we took up when we got into astronomy is the same one we like to show our children as soon as their excitement about the night sky begins to emerge. That's the fun of finding constellations. But finding the constellations and using them to navigate the sky is a discipline that dates back practically to the dawn of man. Indeed, we have rock images to demonstrate that the most primitive human societies could “see images” in the sky and ascribe meaning to them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Constellations have also been important in culture and navigation long before we had sophisticated navigation systems. Early explorers, particularly by sea, relied solely on the night sky to find their way to their destination. Indeed, when “Columbus sailed the blue ocean in 1492” and “discovered” America, he could not have done so without astronomy and the help of navigating the cosmos, much of which is made possible by the important constellations. When we learn to find the large constellations in the sky, we use the “find one, you've found them all” system. This is because the easiest constellation to find will guide us to the others. That constellation is Ursa Major. Look at the northern sky on a clear night and widen your field of vision by focusing on just one star and it will practically jump out at you. It will look like a large cooking pot or ladle, right side up in the fall, upside down in the spring. When you have the Big Dipper under control, you can find the North Star quite easily. This is the star that ancient sailors depended on most to find their way to land. The North Star can then lead you to the Little Dipper. The key here is that Polaris is the tip of the handle of Ursa Minor and the bowl hangs from the handle as if it were hanging in the kitchen. Be patient with this because the stars that make up Ursa Major are fainter than Ursa Major. But it's really nice once you find it. These are the obvious starting points, but from Ursa Major you can find the constellation known as "Il Cignus" or Cygnus. Simply use the same system you used to find the North Star but continue drawing that line starting at those pointer stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper. Go about halfway down the path you took to find Polaris and you're there. You will see a trapezoid of stars as big as the Big Dipper. This trapezoid forms the Swan's tail. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay That line we are drawing from the pointer stars is our roadmap to another well-known constellation which is Cassiopeia. If you use that line and imagine that you are directly under the two pointer stars, you will see a large "W" just to the left of the line. This is the constellation of Cassiopeia, the wife of the king of Egypt, Cepheus, in Greek mythology. There are many other wonderful constellations to find and a good star map can continue your search.