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I fired up Stellarium and it has the moon between about 36 and 17
degrees on Nov 12th, 4 days old (Waxing crescent) so that makes the
situation better.

Bill

On Thu, 6 Nov 2025 at 22:31, Bill Lionheart  wrote:
>
> Scott and fellow explorers died in the Antarctic around 29 March 1912,
> heading away from the pole and back to their base camp. At dinner
> today at Clare Hall, Cambridge my friend Prof Petri Pellikka, visiting
> the Scott Polar Research institute, mentioned as a side project he was
> interested in where Scott's body was now in the ice sheet and when it
> is likely to emerge into the ocean.
>
> Scott and his companions' bodies were discovered on 12 November 1912.
> and marked with a cairn. And I presume the position was carefully
> recorded. A quick Google search gave 81°30'S 175°00'W
>
> We know that polar explorers used dead reckoning  (compass and sledge
> odometer) and celestial navigation (sextant and chronometer). So in
> November would they have been able to see any celestial body other
> than the sun at 81 degrees South? I presume if they were using the
> Sun's altitude it would have been very inaccurate as low in the sky.
> But they could do a Sun run Sun while moving and multiple observations
> throughout the day when stationary. Presumably the refraction
> correction is the key.
>
> So my question is: if they were to observe for a full clear day in
> November 1912 how accurate a fix could they get?
>
> I hope some members will have more knowledge of polar navigation than I do.
>
> Best wishes
>
> Bill Lionheart

   

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