NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Alternate Planets for Celestial Navigation
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2008 Feb 21, 06:23 -0500
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2008 Feb 21, 06:23 -0500
The Earth is nearly a sphere, but not quite. Celestial navigation, as commonly practiced, has no issues with the fact that the Earth isn't quite round. The flattening is only one part in about 300. But if the Earth were a cube, instead of a sphere?? Then celestial navigation wouldn't work at all --on every face of this imaginary cube-shaped planet, the altitudes of key stars would be constant. One could not determine position on a "cubic planet" by measuring the stars. So what "shape" and what "topology" makes celestial navigation on a planetary surface possible? On a sphere, it works; on a cube, it doesn't. Could you shoot the stars on Saturn's moon Hyperion, with its famously non-spherical shape? If celestial's possible on some spheroidal body, is there any downside to celestial navigation on a planet that's flattened at the poles? Just some food for thought... -FER --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---