NavList:

David Pike, you wrote:
"[Eps]1Lyr and Zeta1Lyr have RAs only 17 seconds apart, and as they’re almost one above the other in the photograph, the photographer must have been facing roughly north."

Exactly, exactly (though I fixed your typo --eta for eps above)! This is the key observation that makes this an interesting and (roughly) solvable navigation puzzle. The "double double", ε Lyr, and the other star, zeta, ζ  Lyr, in the little Lyra triangle are vertically aligned, and they have very nearly the same RA (or SHA or GHA, at any specific time). And if two stars with the same RA/SHA are vertically aligned, then they must be on or very close to the meridian. So Vega is very nearly due north, and that means, if we can guess at a horizon, we can estimate a latitude. Note that this analysis depens on an unstated assumption. We're assuming, as we normally due (but usually without evidence!), that the camera frame is aligned with local gravity. Photographers usually try for that. But it's not necessary, and we don't know if that's really the case.

Or as you wrote:
"Therefore, the PZX triangle becomes approximately a straight line, and the cheeky little devils have done a Polaris calculation via Vega.  They estimate Vega is 5 degrees above the horizon, so the photographer’s latitude must be codec Vega + 5 deg = 90-38deg 48’+ 5 deg  =  Approx 56 degrees north."

Yes, exactly!! It's a simple meridian sight, but a "below the pole" sight so a little different --easy enough to figure out by just drawing a picture, of course. Without any other hinting from me, you got a latitude of 56°. My own estimate was 55.5° +/- a degree. That's an impressive match. With that in hand, we can turn to my "non-astronomical" constraint and assume that the image is supposed to represent an observer on US territory. Trace your finger across the globe along 55.5° - 56° N... There are only a few areas in Alaska that fit. :)

I promised I would finish off the alien invasion teddy bears. I found that I could do this with another alien invader (see below *).

Frank Reed
* the monster from "Alien" emerging from the bear is not my work nor even "my work" generated by A.I. prompting. That's an actual bit of "art" that you can find online.

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