Why do so many people think the North Star is the brightest star in the sky, even though there are 50 other stars brighter?

It's probably because it's the most famous star. Its position in the sky is what makes it the most important and thus the most famous star.

Face north on any night this month between the hours of 8 and 10 where you'll easily see the four stars that make up the Big Dipper's cup and the three stars that make up its handle.

Take the two stars at the end of the cup, called the pointer stars, and mentally measure the distance between them. Then shoot an imaginary arrow five and a half times that distance through them and that arrow will land smack dab on the North Star.

Once you've found it you'll notice that it is indeed not the brightest star in the heavens and is in fact no brighter than the two pointer stars we used to find it.

So why is it so important? Simple. First, the North Star is always due north. Second, wherever you happen to be in the northern hemisphere it will always be the same number of degrees above the horizon as your latitude above the Earth's equator.

Before the invention of the compass, the North Star was extremely important to navigators and explorers to determine not only which direction was north but exactly how far north of the equator they were, a kind of ancient GPS. 

We measure the distance from the equator to the North Pole in degrees of latitude. The equator is 0 degrees and the North Pole is 90 degrees. We also measure the distance from any flat horizon to over head in degrees. O degrees is at the horizon, 90 degrees is overhead.

So if you were at the North Pole tonight the North Star would appear 90 degrees above the horizon, directly over head. If you were in London however it would appear 52 degrees above the horizon, New York, 40 degrees, Miami, 25 degrees.

To see how many degrees north you are above the equator, find the North Star above a flat horizon, then hold your fist out at arm's length. A fist will measure 10 degrees. So one fist means you're 10 degrees above the equator and so on. Simple and fabulous. If you get lost at night, simply look for the North Star because it will always be due north. And if it's not, you're either south of the equator or on the wrong planet.

On May 9 and 10, the Moon pays a visit to the second-brightest planet, Jupiter, and on May 15 and 16 pays a visit to the brightest planet, Venus.

On Sunday morning, May 9, about an hour before sunrise, face east where your breath will be taken away by an exquisite pairing of a 25-day-old waning crescent Moon and the largest planet, 88,000-mile-wide Jupiter. Believe me, you'll be most impressed by this pairing. (But if you miss it, the following morning, an even skinnier crescent Moon will be parked just off to the left of Jupiter in a not quite as close but still exquisite pairing.)

On May 15, simply look west northwest about 45 minutes after sunset and see a tiny slender sliver of a waxing crescent Moon complete with Earthshine parked just down and to the right of dazzling bewitching Earth-sized, 8,000-mile-wide Venus. This is kind of celestial pairing depicted in art throughout human history. (If you miss it on May 15, don't fret because on May 16 a slightly fatter crescent Moon will be on the other side of Venus up and to its left.)

But there's more, because if you look about half way up the western sky you'll see a rouge-gold object which is tiny, 4,000-mile-wide Mars. It is just down and to the right of the sickle-shaped pattern of stars that make up the front of Leo the Lion, with Leo's brightest star, Regulus, marking Leo's heart. 

On May 15, Mars will be about 10 and 1/2 degrees from Regulus. And since a full Moon is 1/2 a degree, that means we could fit 21 full Moons between them. Here is where the fun comes in. If you go out and look up at Mars and Regulus night after night all throughout May, you'll be able to watch Mars move closer and closer toward Regulus. 

By Memorial Day on May 31, it will be only 3 and 1/4 degrees away from Regulus. But the best is yet to come because on June 5, Mars and Regulus will have a super-close meeting and will be less than one degree apart. Wow, that's super close, astronomically speaking.