Thought I'd write this one up because I find it supercool.
This is based on viewing from a latitude of 50 degrees. There should be enough all around viewing enjoyment that I though I'd post this for everyone.
Go outside in the early night, after the sun has gone down. Look West. If you're outside at around 8:30pm, hold your hand up vertically, with the base of your hand at the horizon. You see the bright 'star' near your fingertips? That is the planet Jupiter. The brighter object slightly above and to one side is the planet Venus.
If you aren't out around 8:30pm, then you can adjust how far above the horizon you need to look by knowing that the sky shifts by 15 degrees every hour (360/24) and that the average hand held out at arm's length is 10-15 degrees (I forget what the value is supposed to be, I know where to look). Just like the sun, night sky objects set in the West, so the later you are trying to view something, look closer to the horizon.
If you look East/Southeast at the same time, at the roughly the same distance from the horizon, you will see a bright redish object. That is the planet Mars.
If you are out around 10pm, Venus and Jupiter will still be visible a little above the horizon (due West). Mars can be found by looking SE at roughly halfway between the horizon and straight up. However, Saturn will now be visible just above the horizon by looking just a little bit South of Straight East.
How cool is that? Four planets visible at once? Supercool is what that is.
And that's just planets. If you can find Orion's Belt, then you can spot Sirius (the Dog Star) by following the 'beltline' left. It's the brightest star in the nightsky. Actually it's Sirius B. Sirius is a binary star system. 2 stars orbiting each other.
Following the belt line to the right, a little above the direct line, is the Red Giant Aldebaran. This star has been seen as the 'red eye of the bull' that is the Taurus constellation going back 10,000 years. That is a lot of people all looking up at the same spot in the sky saying "you know what that looks like? That looks like an angry bull."
Just below and to the right is the Hyades star cluster. This is the V in the Taurus constellation.
Continuing the beltline past Aldebaran you can spot the Pleadies star cluster. This star cluster is famously known as 'The Seven Sisters' after the brightest (ie most easily visible) members, even though this young(ish) star cluster contains around a thousand young and small stars.
And the of course there is the superfamous Big Dipper to Polaris line. Find the Big Dipper (which is actually part of Ursa Major 'the big bear'). This should be easy (or a lot of people can point this one out). Follow the handle down into the dipper. The dipper itself is basically a box of easily noticed stars. from the handle stars, follow the box down, over, and then up. That last pair of stars (that make up the farthest vertical section of the 'cup' part of the dipper) are called Merak (the bottom one) and Dubhe (the top one). Ok, that last part I had to look up. The rest of this I know.
Anyway, if you follow the line that Merak and Dubhe make, in an upward direction, you will find the most noticeable star in the area. This is Polaris, aka the North Star, aka the Pole Star. Because Polaris is the closest (most visible) star to the axis of the Earth's rotation (meaning that is rotates very little during the course of the night, or year), Polaris is essentially Due North. *Note: Just because it's a good way of finding North doesn't mean that Polaris is exactly North, it's the closest easiest way of getting North.
Fun fact: because the axis of the Earth's rotation wobbles over time (this is called the precession of the equinoxes), Polaris is just the current reigning champ as the North Star. In a few thousand years our descendants will see a star in the ...( I don't remember the name of the constellation. It's supposed to be a king that looks like a square with a triangle hat) constellation. The tip of the king's triangle will be the new best Pole Star.
The lesson for today is this: Always look up.
Darkvisitor
P.S. The only part of this that is relevant year-round is the Polaris thing. Everything else changes as the Earth moves through space. Just thinking about the true motion of the Earth through space should blow your mind!