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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Latitude From Two Star Altitudes Only
From: David Pike
Date: 2026 Apr 6, 07:52 -0700
From: David Pike
Date: 2026 Apr 6, 07:52 -0700
I felt it must be possible to get latitude (two actually) from the altitude of two stars taken in the same place and at the same time using spherical trigonometry. As a test, I went into ‘Navigator’ app for position 53°10’N 0E/W at 20:00UTC on 1/4/2026 and selected Dec, SHA, and Hc s for Capella and Pollux. I then used those values to calculate back to my latitude. The most northerly solution was 53 10.6’, so I concluded the method worked. As promised, photographs of my working are attached. Well done and many thanks to all who tried this question. DaveP
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