Next message: Herbert Prinz: "Re: CelNav without sextant"
Bill N wrote:
"As another way to use rising and setting of stars -- how about using the
compass to identify the azimuth at which some circumpolar stars rise and set? I
suspect that could tell you your latitude with reasonable accuracy, even
without a watch. "
Stars are quite inivisible at the horizon. The atmospheric extinction erases
everything except the Sun and the Moon (and even the Moon is invisible at the
horizon except for a week or so around Full Moon) The idea of observing
starrises and starsets is something that seems to have been re-invented on land over
and over again. Even the illustrious Nathaniel Bowditch experimented with
navigating this way on his very first ocean voyage in 1795. He soon discovered
that the method is impossible in practice.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
