Polaris Mystery Cache
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Difficulty:
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Terrain:
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Size: 
(micro)
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Polaris
The Pole Star is one of the brightest stars on the northern hemisphere.
For many thousands of years Polaris has been used as a guiding star and reference point for navigators and astronomers. Through experience and observation humans discovered the North Star lights the way to true north. Know the secret of finding the North Star in the northern sky, and you will know how to find direction even in the darkest of nights.
Knowing how to find the North Star in the northern hemisphere is one of the most basic survival skills. Those of us in the north are fortunate to have the North Star as a handy survival tool for determining direction without a compass. Visible from the surface of the earth during clear nights, nearly everybody has heard of this celestial body and most probably feel confident they would be able to find the North Star whenever they choose. In ancient times locating this lodestar was crucial to navigating long distances through the wilderness.
The beauty of using the North Star for navigation is that unlike a magnetic compass the North Star always points to to true north. There is no magnetic declination to deal with. By shear luck, the northern axis of the earth points directly toward the North Star. This means that when you are observing this star you are facing true north toward the North Pole. Because of this we also call the North Star the Pole Star or Polaris, it's astronomic name. When you are facing the North Star you are looking toward true north. This is because by chance this lodestar lines up with the celestial sphere almost perfectly, so that all other stars appear to rotate around it. Simply by finding the North Star travellers are able to determine all the points of the compass: westward would be on your left, eastward to the right, and southward in back of you.
Polaris
How to Find the North Star
Polaris is located in the constellation of Ursa Minor, the Little Bear. It sometimes also goes by the name Stella Polaris. The seven stars from which we derive a bear are also known as the Little Dipper. Polaris, the North Star lies at the end of the handle of the Little Dipper, whose stars are rather faint. It's four faintest stars can be blotted out with very little moonlight or street lighting.
To find your way to Polaris is to use the so-called Pointer Stars in the bowl of the Big Dipper, Dubhe and Merak. Just draw a line, between these two stars and extend it out 5 times, and you eventually will arrive in the vicinity of Polaris.
Interestingly, the Big and Little Dippers are arranged so that when one is upright, the other is upside down. In addition, their handles appear to extend in opposite directions. Of course, the Big Dipper is by far the brighter of the two, appearing as a long-handled pan, while the Little Dipper resembles a dim ladle.
To retreive the cache, no special equipment is required. Trespassing of the infrastructure is not allowed. Do NEVER go beyond the location of the stash!
Additional Hints
(No hints available.)