Tell #time at #night during the Golden Age of #Piracy?

Of course, just consult your #nocturnal #star dial.

You'll also need to find #Polaris & #UrsaMajor or #UrsaMinor.

#celestialnavigation #talklikeapirate #timekeeping #stargazing #instrumentation #astronomy #histsci #constellations #science #sailing

photograph of standard wooden nocturnal for use with Ursa Major and Ursa Minor, c. 17th century. Courtesy National Maritime Museum, Greenwich, London (CC-BY-NC-ND)

Celestial navigation of a native moth

During their annual 1,000-kilometre journey to cool inland caves the Bogong moths have to rest in human hubs. There they get vacuumed and sprayed as pests with pesticides or just squashed by 'progress'. Few of the endangered species make it after their round-the-world journey to return home to Australia’s highest mountain range.

"Our results suggest that Bogong moths use stellar cues and the Earth’s magnetic field to create a robust compass system for long-distance nocturnal navigation towards a specific destination."
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Bogong moths use a stellar compass for long-distance navigation at night
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-025-09135-3
#insects #Bogong #moths #CelestialNavigation #compass #AgrotisInfusa #MagneticField #MilkyWay #EndangeredSpecies #biodiversity

Same ship, different sea
Celestial navigation will take us where she needs to go

#astronomy #celestialnavigation #stargazing

Sextant Reflections by Henry Cordova: https://goodoldboat.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/50-53_GOB97_JA97_Sextant.pdf

(via Centauri Dreams)

#celestialNavigation

"Each spring, billions of Bogong moths (Agrotis infusa) migrate hundreds of kilometres south to the Australian Alps, guided by the austral night sky. The discovery that they can find their way using only the stars — reported in an 18 June Nature paper — makes this moth the first invertebrate to be observed using celestial navigation for long-distance journeys."

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-01935-x

#Moths #Nature #Migrations #Bogong #Australia #Navigation #CelestialNavigation

celestial navigation has been on my to do list for years. #AI and #ComputerVision beat me to it: https://www.popsci.com/technology/drone-star-navigation/

#celestialnavigation #GPS #sailing #drones

🚢 Ahoy! I just launched nautical-waypoint-relative-calcs 🧭🌊 A handy tool for turning waypoints & timestamps into accurate course, distance, & speed (in knots!). Built this to help me place my estimated position for #CelestialNavigation on my #Yachtmaster Ocean Passage due to...well, my logbook's “creative” logging 📝. If you’re navigating without speed logs, check it out! ⚓️

🔗 https://github.com/kevinveenbirkenbach/nautical-waypoint-relative-calcs/

#SailingLife #OpenSource #Python #Nautical #Navigation #Sailing #CelestialNavigation

"When True Altitude 🌊 dips low beneath the Observed sky ☁️,
The Intercept whispers, 'Toward we fly' ✨.
But when True Altitude ⛰️ rises, towering high,
The Intercept calls, 'Away we must lie' 🌬️." - https://chatgpt.com/share/6719a349-2e48-800f-b0e8-11649b4a971b

#CelestialNavigation #TrueAltitude #SextantSkills #SailingLife #NavigatorLife #OceanAdventures #SeafarerWisdom #Intercept #SailingPoetry #MaritimeMagic #SailingCommunity #NauticalKnowledge