NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: On polar nav
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2002 Sep 12, 11:35 +1000
From: Peter Fogg
Date: 2002 Sep 12, 11:35 +1000
Walter Guinon wrote: > Is the behavior of a pendulum a useful indication of nearness to the pole? > Don't know, but among their lists of indispensable equipment to bring for hanging around the pole I've come across no mention of pendulums. My understanding of the method used was observations of the sun over a 24 hour period. After allowance for change of declination the altitude should remain the same all around the horizon at the pole. Another little mystery is why they used sextants rather than theodolites, which would seem to be more useful for the purpose.
