NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Twilight plan implies position
From: David Pike
Date: 2026 Jul 12, 14:53 -0700
From: David Pike
Date: 2026 Jul 12, 14:53 -0700
I’ve got a kind of feeling that we’re around 27N 085W. No, really, if it’s not the dummy, Kochab (one of my favorites, because Polaris is so dim these days) is almost north or south of Polaris. Dec Polaris minus dec Kochab is 15 degrees, so alt Polaris, i.e. our latitude, is either 57N or 27N. Spinning the celestial sphere pinned at 57N at 01.52 Friday 10th leaves most of said stars out of view. Pinning the celestial sphere about 27N puts all stars except Rasalhague in approximately the correct position when we’re at 085degrees W. That puts us in the Gulf of Mexico about 120 miles from Tampa Florida. Rasalhague is the dummy. The computer boys will no doubt get closer. DaveP
