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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Faint stars easier to find on the horizon first?
From: Jim Thompson
Date: 2004 May 24, 18:30 -0300
From: Jim Thompson
Date: 2004 May 24, 18:30 -0300
Last night we had our first cloudless evening twilight in weeks. I kept waiting for Polaris to appear. Finally just after civil twilight ended I set the sextant to the expected altitude and swept the horizon at north azimuth. Polaris popped clearly into view against the horizon. But when I looked up with my naked eye (and brand new glasses) I could not see Polaris for several more minutes, until the sky darkened further. A friend who was standing nearby could not see it either. Is that a commonly used method for finding faint stars before the horizon gets too dark? Jim Thompson jim2@jimthompson.net www.jimthompson.net Outgoing mail scanned by Norton Antivirus -----------------------------------------
