NavList:

Time for another navigating by photo puzzle. This one is worth your time! It incorporates at least two interesting and relatively unknown navigation principles.

The background stars in this photo are almost certainly fake or, as they used to say, "photoshopped". But for the sake of this puzzle, let's suppose they're not. Where is this phone-focused person located --what latitude and maybe longitude? The stars can tell us.

There are two navigation stars in this photo, one famous and bright, the other fainter and rarely used. Can you identify the two navigation stars (from among the 57+1 recognized in the main pages of the official Nautical Almanac)? At least the bright one?? Near it are two stars vertically aligned. A hint: double double toil and trouble... Ooooo... witches??

Really? No? Ok, what star is known as the "double double" and what very bright navigation star is quite close by? With that settled, we can turn to navigation. Look at the orientation of stars in that area of the sky in the image. Maybe find an app or tool that will draw in lines of constant RA or SHA. You should find that one line of SHA near the center of this image would be almost vertical. Two stars quite close to the very bright navigation are vertically aligned. If that's so, then which way are we facing? That is, if two stars with identical SHA are on the same azimuth, what does that azimuth have to be? You may legitimately assume that the observer is not at the North Pole. And then finally, knowing the bright star's declination and given its azimuth, what is your latitude ...within a degree or so?

Can we get longitude? Maybe, crudely, by making a non-astronomical assumption about the image's intent. The image is supposed to show an American (US) phone user. Given your astronomical latitude from above, what are the possible longitudes? So where is this phone-addicted observer, as pictured?

Frank Reed

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