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You are lost at sea, Fortunately you have some astronomical tables and instruments and a Universal time clock. 1. It is the spring equinox 2. The Sun is on your meridian at altitude 75 degrees in the south. 3. The UT clock reads 22:00
The questions are----What is your latitude? how do you know?
What is your longitude? how do you know?
Based on your position where is the closest land and which way do you have to go to get there. The third part is easy but my partner and I cant seem to get the first two even after running through our books like 100 times. Thanks for the help, I mean that!

2006-09-05 16:42:43 · 6 answers · asked by bryan h 2 in Science & Mathematics Astronomy & Space

6 answers

At solar noon on the Equinox the sun is directly over the equator. Your latitudinal position with the sun at 75 deg. is 90-75 = 15 deg. N lat.
The sun traverses the sky at a measured 15 Deg. per hour. At solar noon, clock time being 22:00 your position is 15 x 22 = 330 deg, or 30 deg.E longitude.
Looks like you're off the coast of Cambodia.

Read below. I've been corrected. Thanks guys.

2006-09-05 17:06:29 · answer #1 · answered by Cattlemanbob 4 · 1 0

I think the last repondant has the longitude wrong. If your local time is 12:00 (noon - sun at meridian), you are 10 hours removed from Greenwich (which is on Universal time, 22:00). That puts you 150 degrees (15 deg x 10 hrs) west by my reckoning, a few hundred kms south-east of Honolulu.

Sorry, that should have read "first respondant". I didn't catch the second respondant, with whom I agree entirely.

2006-09-05 17:30:17 · answer #2 · answered by nick s 6 · 1 0

I place you at 15 deg N latitude (90 - 75 = 15 , Vernal equinox places sun above the equator, or 90 deg altitude at 1200 LMT)

At 1200 GMT the sun is directly overhead of 0 deg. Noon moves west at a rate of 15 deg per hr (360/24)
15*(22-12)=150 deg W longitude.

Closest land is Hawaii island, which is is NW of your location.

2006-09-05 17:59:25 · answer #3 · answered by Helmut 7 · 1 0

My wife and I agree with the concept as given, in that the latitude is 15 degrees above the equator.

However, at 15 degrees times solar noon, it's 15 x 10, not 15 x 22. Remember that solar noon is 12:00; the above response calculated as if it were 0:00 or midnight. As a result, you are at 150 degrees longitude, 15 latitude, which puts you smack dab in the middle of the Pacific, not far from Hawaii.

2006-09-05 17:18:15 · answer #4 · answered by spacejohn77 3 · 3 0

I don't know exactly were you are, but most community colleges offer astronomy classes. They may not have an astronomy department, but astronomy is often taught by the physics department. I know for sure that the University of Texas at Austin and San Diego State University in California have astronomy departments. So do many other institutions.

2016-03-26 23:50:06 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

so........how is this really going to help in life? i've seen suvivorman so i'd just chill.

2006-09-09 12:19:29 · answer #6 · answered by Homer 4 · 0 0

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