NavList:

Tony,

You asked:
why there is no East-West labeling on the Longitude (outermost) scale?

I don't know why there is no East-West labeling on the longitude (outermost) scale except to speculate there is no room to print it without either making the wheel larger or somehow overprinting the degree scale. East-West directions remain the same regardless of which side, N or S, you are using.


You asked:
Is it because those labels depend on which side (N or S) one puts the star' disk on the base?

Not exactly, let's clarify the star finder's physical layout. There are two separate star wheels (the two outermost in the three wheel sandwich). The stars on the N side are projected from the north eleveated pole, S stars from the south elevated pole. Thus you aren't "putting stars on the base", they are permanently part of the wheel graphics.

You also asked:
Does it also depend on which side up is the Azimuth/Altitude disk is flipped?

Yes. North latitude disk faces are used only on the N star wheel side and vice versa.
Now let's look at that E/W rotation graphic. When using the N side, the star base rotation reminder printed at the lower edge of the wheel is <-W--E-> and <-E--W-> on the S side. That is, when N stars are advanced in time or GHA/LHA Aries is advanced, the star wheel is rotated clockwise (holding your longitude constant). For S stars, advancing is a counter clockwise rotation.

These N/S rotation directions make sense. If you holding your longitude constant, the GHA/LHA Aries increases in a westerly direction at the rate of 15 degrees each hour. And if retarding to a prior time, you rotate the stars easterly.

I guess if there is an ommision here, the star finder should display an Aries symbol next to these rotation direction graphic so you know what they refer to.

Ed