It’s summer in Australia and that means many of us head out of the city and off to a remote camping site, where the night sky shines bright with stars. Australian First Nations astronomers have built knowledge around the stars for about 65,000 years. But what should the beginner look for? This five-step guide will have you navigating the sky in no time – no telescope or star chart needed.

The best way to orient yourself when looking at the night sky is to work out where south is. First, find the Southern Cross (tip: in summer it is low to the horizon at sunset), then draw an imaginary line about three-and-a-half times up the length of the major axis of the cross, in the same direction as the major axis – where this imaginary line ends is approximately due south.

The two bright stars next to the Southern Cross are the “pointers” or Alpha and Beta Centauri. Alpha Centauri is the outer star and is a triplet star system, containing the nearest star to us outside our solar system, Proxima Centauri. It takes light 4.25 years to get from this star to Earth.

Switch your attention to the north and you’ll see three bright stars in a row – these form the belt of Orion, or the base of the saucepan. There are three nearby bright stars at about a 45-degree angle above the belt – this is Orion’s Sword (or the handle of the saucepan). The middle “star” looks........

© The Guardian