Sextants In The 1600's Mariners

He used a hand bearing compass, pointed at a lighthouse or some other landmark and looked across the lubber’s line into the bowl, taking bearings of two or more objects, and reading the direction or bearing of that object, off of the compass. Then, he plotted them onto his chart. Where the lines crossed, was where he was. It was that simple. The GPS was for his clients. It made them feel better, not him.

(between June 20th and June 22nd) the Greek Astronomer, Eratosthenes had heard of a famous well in a Egyptian City called Syene (now known as Aswan) located around the Nile River. He knew that every year on the solstice, there was no shadow on the bottom of well but instead the rays of sunlight reflected back, and not on the sides of the well as on other days. He came to a conclusion that the sun was directly overhead in Syene at noon every year. He knew that in his hometown Alexindra, the sun was never directly above him even on the solstice. He assembled a pole in Alexindra to study and calculate the shadows position eventually proving that no sun was directly above but faintly south. Knowing that the earth was curved and knowing the distance between the two cities, Syene and Alexandra he calculated the planets circumference by doing simple geometry. “Eratosthenes could measure the angle of the Sun’s rays off the vertical by dividing the length of the leg opposite the angle (the length of the shadow) by the leg adjacent to the angle (the height of the pole). This gave him an angle of 7.12 degrees. He knew that the circumference of Earth constituted a circle of 360 degrees, so 7.12 (or 7.2, to divide 360 evenly by 50) degrees would be about one-fiftieth of the circumference. He also knew the approximate distance between Alexandria and Syene, so he could set up this

For Carolinians to navigate using the stars they had to have had a good concept of astronomy their use of the stars was in more of a practical sense. In Lewis’s “voyaging Stars” Nautical astronomy was

Students or civilians take a Compass Test to see where they lie at. Basically the Compass test is used to

There were many cases like these that inevitably made the problem of not knowing how to find longitude into an all-out panic to solve it.

On the morning of October 12, 1492, Christopher Columbus stepped ashore on an island in the Americas. His goal being to find a western route to China, India, and the islands of Asia. However, he did not have the technology that is now in today’s society to know his location such as the GPS, compass or the radar. He used things such as the sandglass, maps, and the quadrant.

The barca was bigger than the caravel and was used to travel overseas because it had a lot of space for storage and went faster than the caravel; the caravel was smaller and more maneuverable than the barca and was used to map the details of continents and explore up rivers. During explorations, explorers used a cross staff or an astrolabe to find their latitude. A cross staff uses the North Star, the Big Dipper, and the horizon to find the latitude of the ship. An astrolabe was more common than the cross staff because sailors could use any star to find your latitude, even though it was less accurate. The astrolabe could also use the North Star, Big Dipper, and horizon, but if the North Star wasn’t in the sky, the sailors could use any star. It was also more portable than the cross staff. The two ships and the cross staff and astrolabe helped sailors to explore trade routes to Asia without getting

Much of the new technology that they brought over, however, was borrowed from various people and cultures along their travels. Some of these new technologies include the compass, which they used to figure out which direction they were travelling, and the astrolabe, which aided the sailors in trying to find out how far north or south they were from the equator. Another borrowed technology that greatly benefitted the Europeans on their travels was cartography; this is the science of map making. This was probably one of the most beneficial discoveries to the Europeans because it allowed them to draw out where they had been and where they were

The race to find longitude at sea was a race of endurance, spanning multiple centuries, countries, and methods. John Harrison’s final clock, H4, was the culmination of that race, an elegant, practical, and direly needed winner. But this race wasn’t solo; instead it was a relay. Harrison needed the knowledge and support of Enlightenment Science and the Royal Society to accomplish what he did. Without past horological innovation, patronage from the Royal Society, and the experimentation through a voyage to Lisbon, Harrison’s clock would have never succeeded.

Most of these items are related to the study of heavenly bodies and the subject of astronomy. The Celestial globe is used to observe the positions of the stars and other celestial bodies. The Two Quadrant are used to read time, it allows the height of the sun and the angle to the horizon to be calculated. A sundial is an instrument used to measures apparent solar time, by measuring the position of the shadow of the sun as it changes through the day. The Torquetum is an object used to determine the relative position of heavenly bodies and tell the time. According to the experts, the sundials reveal that it is 10:30 am on April 11,1533. This tells us that exact date and time of Dinteville?fs visit to London.

Longitude:(noun) the measurement of distances east and west of the Prime Meridian. It is 32 degrees east longitude.

The Astrolabe object helped Islamics find time for prayers and was used in the islamic golden age. Eventually it helped the European’s Navigation because it was able to find the latitude on land and it can help locate the sun, moon and stars. Asia’s innovations in ship design influenced Europe's ship. The had larger ships and more efficient ships to travel on.

This essay examines the question: How does GPS rely on geometry and trigonometry now that there are satellites? Has the function of geometry and trigonometry in triangulation and navigation changed since satellites were

circumference of Earth in the following manner; he knew that on a certain date that a

Compass is an instrument for determining directions, as by means of a freely rotating magnetized needle that indicates magnetic north. The compass become very important for navigation. Before compass navigation they navigated with the stars. However, this mean of navigate wouldn’t last long because the stars aren’t out during day and when there is storm the stars aren’t visible either. The weather is unpredictable and this could occur for many days and night. The compass help navigate through storm and when star wasn’t visible, making traveling across the sea easier.