Tag Archives: Polaris

What is celestial navigation?

Posted on February 10, 2020 by abbigailhughes

Those who use the placement of stars in the night sky in order to determine where to go to are using a practice called celestial navigation. Ancient peoples noticed the patterns associated with stars in the night sky and were able to study and record them in order to teach the following generations how toContinue reading “What is celestial navigation?” Continue reading →

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Precession of Earth

Posted on January 25, 2016 by sarabkeller

I think one of the most interesting topics in Chapter 2 of the Astronomy textbook is about the concept of precession, or the gradual change in the rotational axis of Earth. The direction of Earth’s axis rotates on a 26,000 year cycle. That may mean next to nothing to us in our lifespan, but precession will gradually […] Continue reading →

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Our Guiding Star

Posted on April 29, 2014 by reidrcreviston

So many stars come and go based on the time of year, where we are located on the planet, how much of the sky is visible, etc.  Although we can only see some stars on some nights there is one star that we can always see.  This star is the North Star also known as […] Continue reading →

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The Celestial Compass

Posted on February 16, 2014 by paanvaannd

For millennia, humans have known that the movements of certain celestial objects repeat in a predictable pattern, and for millennia humans have mapped the movements of stars and other objects in the heavens and tried to make predictions about the cycles for these objects.  Most humans probably didn’t care about what might be up in … Continue reading The Celestial Compass → Continue reading →

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