When they first went to the north and south poles how did they know the exact position?

Question

No sat nav then How can sightings of the sun ect give a position acurate enough to plant the flag in the right snot. They could have been way out and never got there?

No sat nav then How can sightings of the sun ect give a position acurate enough to plant the flag in the right spot. They could have been way out and never got there?

Answer 1

If you have a small compus, as used by the early age sailors, you will see the north is indicated at northen pole, even if you make it rorate, it will come back to its position again and show the north direction. Once you reach the exact north pole, then the compus will not work, it will keep rotating as the magnetic lines will pass through and thus you will know that you are at exact north pole.... and same is true for south pole as well ... hope I have answered your question... :)

Answer 2

On the way to the South Pole, Roald Amundsen took a sextant altitude of the Sun every clear day at local noon. By finding the altitude of the Sun at it's highest point, you can determine your latitude.

At sea, you determine your longitude by finding the time at which the Sun reaches its highest point, according to your chronometer (which is set at Greenwich time). Near the poles, this method of finding longitude is dicey, because the Sun's altitude changes so very slightly during the day in the high arctic. So Amundsen took "off noon" sights at 6 PM local time (according to his meridian). That, plus a few computations, can tell you whether you've strayed east or west of your desired meridian, and by how much.

When you actually reach the Pole, the Sun doesn't change altitude at all: it just circles the sky at a nearly constant altitude. When he had judged he had reached the Pole, Amundsen took hourly sextant sightings of the Sun for 24 hours; then, by studying the slight variations in the Sun's altitude, determined where the Pole lay (which was about a mile from his final camp).

At the North Pole the same system would work. But Peary and Byrd fudged the whole thing.

Answer 3

You are looking for an answer that doesn't exist... there is NO finite point that is either the North or South Pole... it's an area of about 300 square miles... or at least it was when Scott and Admunson did their things. Today, you probably could get a lot closer using satellite technology.

The early explorers used a Sextant the also used Latitude Navigation, which can be done without a Sextant but does need a simple means of measuring elevation... like an astrolabe.

Answer 4

Locating of the Geographic South Pole in 1911-1912
The method used by Roald Amundsen’s expedition for locating the South Pole on December 14, 1911, and by Robert F, Scott’s expedition to confirm the location of the marker for the South Pole on January 18, 1912, was an astronomic method that involved observations of the sun.

When at the geographic location for the South Pole, the sun is above the horizon six months of the year. Through a 24-hour period, the sun moves parallel to the horizon a complete rotation around the Geographic Pole. It gradually rises to its’ highest angle above the horizon on December 21. Observations to measure the angle of the top edge of the sun above the horizon were made with a sextant or similar instrument. When the angle or altitude above the horizon is equal, the observer is standing at the geographic location for the South Pole. The accuracy for this method is estimated to be about 300 meters (about 1000 feet).

Answer 5

I LOVE when Polaris is directly down! After 6 months of dark at South Pole I remember walking out side and couldn't see the stars and wondering how I going to find my way. Duh, I could see - it wasn;t dark.

Previous answer right in a long winded way. When you reach the north or the south pole your shadow is the same length no matter what time of day.

DAS

Answer 6

The compass does NOT help. That shows the magnetic pole!

At the geographic pole, the daily orbits of the sun, moon, planets and stars can be considered as horizontal circles.

Answer 7

1) For the North pole, Polaris, the North star, will be directly overhead
2) For the South pole. Polaris will be directly down.

Answer 8

Sextant

Answer 9

the actual (magnetic) north pole is actually near Canada

Answer 10

i would think that the compass would have helped. maybe when you get as far north as possible, the compass will not show an exact north when you are standing on it.