Practical Celestial Navigation and the Constellations

Adam Ginsburg September 25, 2009 REI Boulder, CO, USA Latitude: 40.0187 Longitude: -105.2581

Direction
If youre lost in the woods, and you have
some idea of what a map of your area looks like, you need to nd north help you, you cant navigate by the stars

If youre lost enough that direction doesnt

Finding North

Daytime is easy: Use the sun

Analemma chart shows how high the sun will be

Find West: Stick & Shadow

The sun moves from east to The shadows length will
change west, so a shadow will move from west to east

A straight line between the

ends of the shadows that are the same length will point east-west

Find West: Stick Method

Find West: Stick Method

Watch Method
Sun

Correct for
12

Daylight Savings! Can be off by 15-30 degrees if youre on the wrong side of your timezone

North

Dening Location
Your location is given by a latitude and
longitude on the globe

Night: Find Polaris

In the US, will be at same angle above the horizon as your latitude Polaris can be tricky to nd: it's the 48th brightest star in the sky. Look for the Little Dipper. Polaris is the end of the handle.

Straight overhead
What if youre
stuck in a valley?

There are still

recognizable constellations to point you north Pairs

Meridian

Straight Overhead

Straight Overhead

When are they overhead? (at midnight)

Vega (0)

Summer Triangle: Mid-July

Deneb (1)

When are they overhead? (at midnight)

Lacerta (4): Early September

When are they overhead? (at midnight)

Perseus: early November

Algol (0)

When are they overhead? (at midnight)

Auriga: early December

Capella (1) Alnath (2)

When are they overhead? (at midnight) Lynx: early February

10 UMa (4) 9 UMa (3)

When are they overhead? (at midnight)

Ursa Major: early March

Dubhe (2)

Merak (2)

When are they overhead? (at midnight)

rho Boo (3.5) Seginus (3)

Bootes: late April early June

Pegasus

Alpherat (2)

Scheat (2.5)

Algenib (3)

Markab (2.5)

late September

early September

Time and the Sky

Each month the sky rotates by 2 hours Example: Ursa Major stars Dubhe and

Merak are highest at midnight on March 7th, so they are highest at 8 PM on May 7th

Zoom-in
Well look at the most recognizable Summer Triangle Pegasus square Ursa Majors pointer stars
asterisms - those that dont require an almanac to nd

Aside: How you can get confused

There are 14 stars <1 magnitude Vega is the 5th brightest 31 < 2 magnitudes 45 < 2.5 magnitudes lots of fainter stars

Deneb

Altair

Vega

Deneb

Altair

Vega

Deneb

Altair

North

Vega

Deneb Curve goes straight overhead in Boulder

Vega

Can you nd Polaris?

Pegasus

Alpherat (2)

Scheat (2.5)

Algenib (3)

Markab (2.5)

late September

early September

Pegasus

Alpherat (2)

Scheat (2.5)

Algenib (3)

Markab (2.5)

late September

early September

Caph (2)

Alpherat (2)

Algenib (3)

Caph (2)

Alpherat (2)

Algenib (3)

Practical Angle Measurement

Your thumb held at arm's length is about 2 degrees

assuming your thumb is 2cm wide and arm is 60cm (2ft) long

The sun and the moon are about degree across

Practically done
You can now get un-lost in the woods Next segment: a brief discussion of historic
methods

Historical Methods
Sextant used to measure
precise angle of astronomical object above horizon m (1/3 mile) at best

accurate to ~500

Historical Methods
Lunar Distance Parallax + known
location -> your location!

requires an

almanac, accurate to ~30 km

Image by Michael Daly

Pyramids
The
pyramids are aligned with north used either stick method or meridian stars

Probably

SECRETS of TRADITIONAL POLYNESIAN NAVIGATION

Professor John Stocke October 16th, 7:30 PM Fiske Planetarium

Intermission
Celestial Navigation segment done Next: A tour of the Milkyway or how to navigate when you leave the
solar system...

100000000000000000000000000000 gallons of alcohol...

Our Milky Way @ visual wavelengths

Our Milky Way @ near infrared wavelengths

Our Milky Way @ far infrared wavelengths

Behind Cassiopeia

9 Million light years away: M51 grand design spiral (Big Dipper)

Andromeda Galaxy (M31)

Orion BN/KL H2 fingers

Dynamical Decay of Sub-cluster of massive stars ~ 500 years ago

Ring Nebula (M57) in Lyra

References

http://eta.colorado.edu/ Analemma: http://www.nikolasschiller.com/blog/ index.php/archives/2008/04/01/1343/ US Latitude Map: http:// www.enchantedlearning.com/usa/activity/latlong/ Finding Polaris: http://www.onr.navy.mil/Focus/ spacesciences/observingsky/constellations3.htm Sky renderings from Celestia Constellation photos: http://www.allthesky.com/ constellations/