Going round and round . . .

I've added this simple North Star disc – 2-feet in diameter – to the Observatory tools. When you face it, you’re also facing north, and it spins gently so you can adjust it to the current positions of the Dippers and Cassiopeia. This helps in two ways:

1. It helps visitors find the North Star and learn three important constellations.
2. It helps illustrate the point that everything is rotating around the north star.

The stars are stick-on, glow-in-the-dark types that work well. I tried glow-in-the-dark paint, but it was not at all satisfactory. I sprayed over the stars with a clear acrylic paint so they’re not likely to fall off on a damp night. The sign is removed with a single wing nut, so I don’t leave it out all the time and I hope this will help preserve it as well.