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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Lunar surface sun compass
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2023 Aug 2, 19:41 -0700
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2023 Aug 2, 19:41 -0700
For future nearside lunar surface explorers:
Look at the Earth in the sky (no use if you're on the farside). Draw a line visually through the "horns" of the Earth. Extend that line across the sky 90°. You'll end up at the Moon's north or south celestial pole within 5°. From that spot in the sky, drop a line down the horizon. That gives you north or south.
This is similar to the trick sometimes described for the Moon's horns here on terra firma. It works better on the Moon using the Earth's "horns" since the Moon's celestial poles are very close to the ecliptic poles.
Frank Reed
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