How can I tell my position on the Earth by movement of the stars? (ie. look like moving East to West)?

Answer 1

you look at the north star. to find it, find the big dipper, then above the dipper part, three dippers up is the north star, also called Polaris. then you measure its distance up from the horizon with an instrument called a sextant. this is how people navigated the open water, before compasses, and gps units.

Answer 2

Latitude is easy if you can measure the height of the pole star above the horizon. Navigators use a sextant. Subtracting the height of the pole star from 90, gives you your latitude. If the pole star is 60 degrees above the horizon, you are 30 degrees north of the equator.

Longitude, E-W position, is more difficult. It needs tables and an accurate timepiece. You time the passage of a star at the meridian (its highest point in the sky) and look it up on your tables that show you the offset from the prime meridian (Greenwich).

Longitude was almost impossible to measure until the invention of a clock that could keep accurate at sea. That seems strange in these days of electric clocks and watches, but when all timepieces were clockwork, they all were affected by the motions of the sea.

A Yorkshire clock maker, John Harrison, came up with the clock that could do the trick in the 1700s.

Answer 3

Nick S is a bit confused - once you measure the altitude of the North Star above your horizon, that is your latitude. If you are at the north pole of Earth (latitude = 90 degrees), than the North Star would be directly above your head, 90 degrees above the horizon. If you live in New York City (latitude about 40 degrees) than the North Star would be 40 degrees above the horizon.

One way to find out which star is the North Star is by watching all the stars for a while - the one that hardly moves at all is the North Star. This is trick to do, though, so most people just learn which star it is by looking at a star chart.

Answer 4

Simple. The planets and the moon rise in the east and set in the west. The moon is easy to figure...planets are something that you must learn about, but the answer is simple. The planets don't twinkle like the stars, and always set in the west. Learn to recognise Mars, Jupiter, and Venus. By the end of the night they are all headed west. The Sun comes up in the East. They all move along a line in the sky. It would be good for you to learn what that line in the sky is called. You will then always have a heading reference and without a compass.

Good Question

Answer 5

Star navigation requires the use of a sextant, Held horizontally, the sextant can be used to measure the angle between any two objects, such as between two stars, which will, similarly, allow for calculation of a line of position on a chart.

Answer 6

USE G P S