How can you find the north pole star?

If you live in the northern hemisphere, you can always find north at night, because there is a star very near to the north pole of the sky. This star is called Polaris, and during the night all other stars appear to circle around it as the Earth turns.

To find Polaris, first locate the familiar saucepan shape of seven stars that make up the Plough or Big Dipper (actually, a part of the constellation Ursa Major, the Great Bear.) Twp stars in the bowl of the saucepan point towards Polaris.