The north star Polaris is a useful navigational tool. It certainly is not the brightest star in the northern sky, but it is surrounded by fairly dark space at its location.

Try using the following free software to see the stars and understand their movements:

http://stellarium.org/

It's pretty user-friendly software, and will certainly get your oriented with the directions of bright stars, the planets, the Sun and the Moon.

Once you know Polaris ... you also know your latitude. Just measure the height of Polaris above the horizon in degrees, and that is also the latitude of your location in the northern hemisphere. There are fine-tuned corrections if you want exact numbers (typically only sailors using celestial navigation care about exact stuff), but the system works well.

You can also get the north-south line from the shadow of the Sun when it is at the highest point in the sky. This system works well if you are further north that 30 degrees N, or further south than 30 degrees S. Be aware that the zenith of the Sun does not generally occur exactly at noon - so if you want a really good estimate for the north-south direction you need to know the time when the Sun is at its highest point. If you just use the shadow of the Sun at noon, you should be able to get north-south to within about 10 degrees.

There's a lot you can do with the stars, Sun and Moon - if you take the time to learn the way they move.

The main disadvantage of all these techniques is that you need a clear sky ... or at least a sky that has some gaps in cloud cover.

Good luck!

Pete2