You may have noticed that there are fewer bright stars and distinctive constellations in the autumn sky, and that the Big Dipper appears to be missing from the northern sky. The reason for the lackluster sky now is because we are looking directly out of the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy. However, the Dipper isn't really missing; you just need to know where to look for it.

The Big Dipper is a pattern of stars in Ursa Major, the Great Bear. Ursa Major is a circumpolar constellation, which means it's always in the sky rotating around Polaris, the "north star." At 7 p.m., the Big Dipper can be found scraping the northern horizon. If there are trees or houses obstructing the horizon, you may have a hard time locating it. As the night passes, the dipper will rotate in a counterclockwise direction around Polaris. So by 2 a.m., the Dipper can be found standing on its handle and high in the northeastern sky before sunrise.