Stellarium is a simple and easy way to look at the stars. It is a way of being able to search the sky and planets without going into Space yourself. You can find constellations and planets as well as many other Space features. It is free to download from: By Chloe Johnson and Laura Simpson. Meden School and Technology College.

Keep repeating this process, changing the year by 5000 every time and marking the position. You will now see a circular shape around which the sky rotates. Stellarium is a fantastic software that allows you to look at the stars and sky. This program is a realistic, 3D Planetarium. It is great for finding constellations and planets. It is simple and easy to use and can be accessed and used by anyone around the world. Experienced and inexperienced astronomers can look at and use this program to search the sky rather than having to use a telescope or binoculars.

Press the fast- forward button and see at which point the sky rotates. Now mark the point of rotation. Some of the functions of Stellarium are being able to bring up constellation art, eg: Ursa Major, also known as the Great Bear. Stellarium can also fast forward or go back in time – eg: 5000 years – and show what position the stars were or are going to be in.

Now change the date to 5000 years ago and you will see that the stars will have moved position. Now mark the position of the star.

You need a star chart to be able to do this activity. First find the North Star at present day.

Load up Stellarium. Pause time using the time and date button (It doesn’t matter what time it is.) Drag screen so that north (N) is clearly in view, click on the cloud so screen goes dark. Adjacent to Cassiopeia and The Big Dipper directly in the centre is the North Star. Find the constellation Cassiopeia, which is shaped like a w, remembering where The Big Dipper is. Look for constellation The Big Dipper / Ursa Major which looks like a spoon.

Stars and constellations of the northern hemisphere Mark the point of rotation with a dot for each time setting. CELS—D. Brown 03/01/2010 Stars and constellations of the northern hemisphere Mark the point of rotation with a dot for each time setting. CELS—D. Brown 03/01/2010