just stare up at the sky while camping.  I don't know anything about the stars either but I remember camping as a kid with the Boy Scouts and we would go someplace really dark with no lights.  With no lights it war really cool to see how many stars there were up in the sky.

One of the fathers used to point to stuff and say "that's Orion" or "that's something important".  One of the other Dad's said, is that true.  The star Dad said "I don't know but it sounds good and the kids are believing it" :lmao:

The best thing to do is look up.

The sites heavens-above.com and spaceweather.com can give you an idea of what's going on in your specific area.  We've seen International Space Station and Space Shuttle flybys as well as planets from data found on each - give them a try, they might be helpful!

[quote author=BigDawgGang link=topic=911.msg6972#msg6972 date=1309159824]
I found a really neat app for my wife's IPad and I know Iphone has it as well.  You hold the I pad in the air and it will point out which stars there.  You can even select any star or planet and it will give you an arrow telling you which way to turn and also tell you to look up or down or if the star / planet is below the horizon and when to stop when the ipad is pointed at the star.  It also works with constellations as well.  It is a really neat tool.

i think you're talking about Google Sky Map, which is also available on Android devices.
Apple may have a different one, though.
Google Sky Map is a very cool app, used it when i was camping last week.