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*Navigation by the Stars*?
Q: How d’ye navigate by the stars?
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*Navigation*
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*Stars by Kagaya*
*All Answers Welcome and Appreciated*
**Peace-Love-Light-n-Blessings to ye** xx
There are many different ways to navigate by the stars, ie, the methods used by the US Navy are rather different from the methods used by the Vikings which were rather different than the methods used by the great Polynesian navigators, but all accomplish the same end.
So, I’ll give you the world’s shortest explanation of one of these.
Imagine that Polaris (the “North Star”) were directly over the North Pole (it isn’t, but let’s pretend). Latitude is measured 0° (the equator) to 90° (the north or south pole). “Altitude” is the angular distance from the horizon to the zenith (“up”), also 0° to 90°. If you are standing at the North Pole and measure the altitude of Polaris (with a sextant, astrolabe, protractor, kamal or whatever, it doesn’t matter) it will be 90°, which happens to be exactly the same as your latitude. If you’re at the equator, Polaris will be right on the northern horizon (0° altitude), again exactly your latitude (0°). Place yourself at any latitude between the equator and the north pole, and the same rule applies; at 37° latitude Polaris will be at 37° altitude. Now, instead of a measurement of the distance from the equator, think of your latitude line as simply a circle of equal distance from the point on the earth directly below Polaris. If you measure Polaris to be at an altitude of 23° above the horizon, then you know that you are somewhere on a circle 67° of arc (90° zenith minus 23° altitude) away from the point on the earth directly below Polaris. 1° of arc = 60 nautical miles (1 minute of arc is what a “nautical mile” is).
Okay. So the thing you just did with Polaris? You can do that with ANY star, or planet, or the moon or sun (which of course is also a star). The only difference is that instead of the point directly below the star being the north pole, it’s someplace else on the earth, and because the earth is rotating that place is constantly changing. But with a chronometer and an almanac, it is easy enough to determine where that star was in the sky at the moment you measured its altitude. From that, you have a circle of equal distance from that point, which you are on, somewhere. Do this with two more stars, and you have three circles of equal distance. Where these three circles intersect is where you are.
That’s it. There’s nothing more sophisticated to it than that. A good instructor can teach you how to find your latitude and rough longitude by celestial navigation in about one hour.
Call of duty 4: Imperium Vox