Eric Tetler enjoys sailing and believes that sailors should be able to navigate without technology by using the North Star, also called Polaris. Polaris is useful for navigation because it maintains a fixed position in the night sky, directly above the Earth's axis. To find Polaris, one locates the Little Dipper constellation and Polaris is near its handle. When traveling north, Polaris appears to climb higher in the sky, and when traveling south it falls closer to the horizon, allowing sailors to navigate toward the star with confidence that they are moving north. Sailors in the Southern Hemisphere cannot use Polaris and instead must use the less luminous southern pole star.

1. Using the North Star to Navigate
the Seas
By Eric Tetler

2. Introduction
• Eric Tetler currently leads environmental services firm
Windfield Alloy, Inc., as president. When he is not overseeing
activities at the Atkinson, New Hampshire-based company,
Eric Tetler enjoys sailing on his boat.
Every worthy sailor should be able to navigate the seas
without the use of technological aids. One way in which a
sailor can achieve this task is by learning how to make use of
the North Star, Polaris, a natural directional point that is
more accurate than a compass. The North Star is useful to
travelers because of its fixed position in the night sky. At any
time of day or night, the earth’s axis points directly to Polaris.
Since the star does not move, sailors can travel toward the star
at any time, confident that they are moving northward.

3. North Star to Navigate
• To use Polaris as a directional point, one must first
locate it in the sky. The North Star can be found in the
constellation Ursa Minor, also called the Little Dipper,
due to its ladle-like shape. Polaris is located near the
“handle” of the ladle. When traveling due north, the star
will appear to climb higher in the night sky, while a
person moving south can see Polaris falling closer to the
horizon.
Sailors in the Southern Hemisphere cannot use Polaris,
and instead must use the southern pole star, Sigma
Octantis, though the star is less luminous than Polaris
and therefore less effective as a navigational point.