How To Find South Using the Stars

There is new material on finding south using the stars, including never-before-published star compass techniques, in my latest book:

The Hidden Seasons

In the northern hemisphere Polaris, the North Star, tends to get all the attention when it comes to finding direction using the stars. There is a good reason for this: it is easy to find and is very accurate. In the southern hemisphere the Southern Cross is used as Polaris is not visible. But what about finding south in the northern hemisphere? Well the easiest thing is still to find Polaris and then look in the opposite direction, but what if we want a method that actually shows us south itself. Well here is a nice simple and very unusual one that I invented a few years ago, which you can try this evening.

First you need to find the constellation Leo. It is a nice, big and easy to identify constellation which, unlike some constellations I can think of, looks how you would hope it does: like a lion! If you are struggling then tonight it will be about three extended fist-widths to the left of the moon. Having found Leo, next you need to find two little-known but beautifully named stars, Chertan and Zosma, that form the rump of the lion.

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