
NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Star finder, 2102-D, further modification
From: UNK
Date: 2010 Nov 08, 19:41 -0800
From: UNK
Date: 2010 Nov 08, 19:41 -0800
Last year I wrote explaining some modifications to the 2102-D that I had made in the past. I have now looked at these modifications again and have found an easier way to draw in the ecliptic. My previous post had this method for drawing in the ecliptic. "At this point to use the modified 2102-D I still needed to know the time in order to set it so I decided to add some more scales to eliminate having to refer to the Almanac. To accomplish this I first added the ecliptic which was simple to do. I had the position of the sun for the first and the fifteenth of each month, the previously computed positions along the ecliptic, and the declination for the sun for the same dates. I plotted these points and then fared a curve through them by hand, see image 148." See: https://navlist.net/imgx/IMG_0148.JPG and: http://www.navlist.net/m2.aspx?i=107982&y=200904 --------------------------------------------------------- I didn't realize at the time (many years ago) I made these modifications that the ecliptic, due to the projection used for the star base, would plot as a circle which makes it much easier to place on the star base. The radius of the ecliptic is 90° on the declination/latitude scale and the center is placed on the arctic circle at its intersection with the right ascension of the the sun at the time of the winter solstice which is 270° on the star base. To determine where to place the center of the ecliptic I placed a straightedge from 90° to 270° and drew a line extending from about 70° north to about 30° south. I placed the red disk over it and marked 23.5° south. I then set the drawing compass to extend from the pole to the equator and swung an arc from 23.5° south so that it placed a mark on the line at 66.5° north. Then I used this mark as the center to draw the ecliptic, see the attached photos. Also see: http://www.navlist.net/m2.aspx?i=107986&y=200904 gl