NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: David Iwancio
Date: 2021 Apr 17, 00:34 -0700
With Mars currently near Elnath at around 29°N while also due to be occluded by the moon, I've noticed a portion of my 2102-D is getting crowded, inside the equator on the north side of the white disk. And with Mars and Elnath at almost the same magnitude (while both fighting with the brightness of the moon), it took a bit of effort to figure out which was which with the starfinder alone.
Ultimately, it occurred to me to use the other side of the white disk to spread that portion of sky out a bit more. I basically looked at the situation from my antipode.
- Use the same blue latitude disk you normally would, but on the side of the white disk contrary to your latitude
- But use the side of the blue disk with the same name as your latitude (in my case, 35°N on the S side of the white disk). This will keep the azimuth numbers correct for your location.
- Add (or subtract) 180° to your LHA Aries and set the blue arrow at the resulting angle
At this point, everything outside the blue grid is above your horizon.
Normally you look down at the 2012-D, with the "+" mark being the top of your head. But since this sets your starfinder to your antipode, you're actually looking up through the earth and through your feet; hold the starfinder above your head to get the correct orientation.