Title: Navigating by the stars
Course: Exploring Space (Grade 5)

Overview of celestial navigation

In your reflection, you thought about how you navigate or find your way around our planet.

Astronomers have been around for many years and they navigate by the stars. Even some animals navigate by the stars. The indigo bunting is one animal that uses the stars for guidance as it migrates at night.

As you learned in lesson one, in today's world, people and planes use radio, satellite, GPS, and other navigation systems, but we can still rely on the stars to figure out where we are. Pilots and sailors still learn how to navigate by the stars just in case their equipment should fail.

There are 57 stars that are used for navigation because they are easy to find and brighter than their surrounding stars. Polaris, the North Star is one star that is commonly used to navigate. Our sun is another star that is often used in navigation.

So, how do we use the stars to navigate?

Here is one idea of how the Vikings may have navigated. NASA has a great explanation on how the Vikings may have found their way across the ocean.

Other cultures navigated in other ways as well. Check out this NOVA site for further information.

There are few fun big words to decipher and add to your vocabulary sheet if they are new to you.