Movie Clips from Stellarium Stellarium is a fantastic way of getting to know your way around the sky and its completely free from www.stellarium.org Click on the title of the clip to see it in Windows Media Player. Each clip is about 25 MB in size.

1. Ursa Major
Probably the most recognisable constellation in the sky and visible at at night at any time throughout the year. Used for thousands of years as  a way of finding Polaris and hence finding which way is North.

2. Orion
This constellation features a red giant, a blue giant and a nebula. Orion's belt can also be used to find Sirius, the brightest star visible in the northern hemisphere

3. Taurus
The Bull. Relatively easy to find and recognise and contains 2 star clusters. On the ecliptic so one of the 12 zodiac constellations.

4. Cassiopeia
The queen of Ethiopia or the big W. On the milky way and visible at any time of night throughout the year.

5. The Celestial Sphere
People used to the think that the Earth was inside a huge glass sphere with stars painted on it. The celestial poles are above the real poles and the celestial equator is above the equator. With Stellarium one can get a real sense of being inside a huge sphere.

6. Declination
The latitude of a point on the surface of the Earth is the angle above the equator. The declination of a star is its angle above the celestial equator. Polaris has a declination of 90 degrees. (approx)

7. Circumpolar Stars
These are stars that are in the sky all the time (if you could see them). If your latitude is L then a star will be circumpolar if its declination is equal to or greater than 90 - L. So, in Middlesbrough, stars with a declination of 35 degrees or greater are circumpolar.

8. Right Ascension

9. Star Maps

10. The Ecliptic
The path of the Sun through the sky throughout the year, going through the 12 constellations of the Zodiac. Where it crosses the celestial equator days and nights are of equal length.