How to Navigate by the Sun

Download a printable quadrant: http://www.davidcolarusso.com/handouts/quadrant.pdf

Learn how to find south, your latitude, and your longitude with only a few household items and some know how. I should note, however, that in using the home-made quadrant cited, the precision of your findings will be rather low. Don't worry, you'll be within a few hundred miles. ;)

The Tabletop Explainer is an intermittent educational vlog presenting answers to viewer questions, brief science lessons, and ideas for teachers and students. It is a feature of my blog "Tilts at Windmils" which can be found at http://www.davidcolarusso.com/blog/

Transcript: http://www.davidcolarusso.com/blog/?p=150#more-150

Category:

Education

Tags:

• celestial
• navigation
• sun
• clock
• compass
• latitude
• longitude
• sextant
• quadrant
• tabletop
• explainer

[slaimouf]

may i ask...why did u have 8 points on the last graph...do you check miday angles between the horizon and the sun on your watch for 8 days? or did you mean a weak ? or are more trials just better?

[dcolarusso]

@slaimouf the 8 points all take place on the same day around noon time. When exactly they happen isn't as important as that noon is somewhere in the "middle." Of course, they have to be close enough together that you can actually tell when noon was. That is, you are trying to find the sun's highest altitude (which happens at noon). For more information, you might want to Google "noon site." I hope that helps.

[svprovidence]

Really nicely done! I used to teach field expedient navigation (land) and frankly since taking up sailing it's been GREAT learning CelNav and the history of the brilliant people who developed it.

Thanks for posting this excellent video.

-RadioRay

[dcolarusso]

Thanks for the kind words. They're really appreciated. Celestial navigation was one of my favorite classes back in school, and I figured I should share.

[gamesbok]

I have a digital watch. I wound up in Pittsberg.

[socomcygnusx1]

Finally, a science video with facts, not soon to be 'corrected' theory. ;) Thanks.

[bengtmartin]

pretty confusing stuff, although I´m sure absolutely logical

[1Joyeux]

@aweinsto How do you spell stone age? E M P

[1Joyeux]

Celestial navigation has always fascinated me, so I designed a solar instrument that is accurate to within 2 arc minutes, with aid of an ordinary watch (i prefer mechanical seiko.)

As part of that was teaching myself how to use a sextant. A very good instrument.

Thank you for the articulate video, well done.

[aweinsto]

Guys, there is a new navigation game specifically design for iPhone devices, called Matmon.

It provides you with an amazing outdoor experience!

The game is based on mission that you create directly on your iPhone!

Unlike similar products on the market - There is no need to load coordinates into your device, you even do not need to know what coordinates are.

You can also share your missions using Bluetooth with other iPhone devices (look for MATMON in the App Store or in Facebook)

[polozine]

@Emb21 exactly but instead, we are more worried about how many apples Sarah has more than Jim..very frivolous.

[ddbxyrj]

Every impressive. Thanks.

[Squarerig]

I speak as a former chip's Master in the British Merchant Fleet.I used all these instruments my working life..Accuracy to within 1,5 nautical miles is guaranteed,if you can use the sextant properly that is.Morning and evening sights with five stars give even better accuracy.No batteries,no power;just a chronometer-clockwork,nautical almanac and the sextant.

[FALLENMAGGOTSHIT]

what?

[HeyitsCalifornia]

Screw this I'll stick to my gps x)

[glasgowcolo]

@chromzepher You don't get Latitude from GMT noon, you need local noon to get latitude. The GMT noon. when compared to local noon, will give you longitude. Wherever you are on earth, if you use a quadrant or a sextant, you can find your latitude when you measure at local noon.