
NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: David Pike
Date: 2025 Apr 12, 02:47 -0700
Wow! It took me a long time to work out. Bear in mind I’ve still not had time to stabilise Stellarium on my PC. I knew it had to be something to do with the Celestial Sphere and Frank’s love for the tricks you can perform with Orion’s belt. A line up from Alnilam through Meissa is very nearly a Celestial Sphere Meridian of SHA 276 (2015). With Polaris to your left, you must be looking very roughly east. If your latitude was 90N the 276SHA line would go straight up. If you were at the Equator the 276SHA line would lie horizontally. Therefore, your latitude must be the angle the SHA276 line makes with the horizon. From my poor attempt at computer graphics the pyramids latitude must be around 19N give or take a couple of degrees. Photo ident confirms the pyramid is indeed El Castllo (20 41’N 088 35’W) and we are looking more or less exactly due east (T). DaveP
Kermit
I’ve purposely not opened your link yet, but unless you know exactly which time the light at the top gets flashed on and off, I can’t see how you can get longitude without winning the Longitude Prize. I’ve been investigating a trick for getting longitude from Kochab, and invariably when you get down to the small print, you gotta have a watch. DaveP