For the dawn of the early century, crossing the
oceans and the seas is the most used means of transportation for trades,
exploration and with the schema to conquer one’s land. How to dance with the
waves? How to bend the wind? And where to go? The early sailors knew.
Before the invention of compass and other
navigation equipments, ancient seafarers got to entrust their voyage to the
stars. But not all knew the anatomy of astronomy, so physics is an option.
To know their exact location, sea travelers
would then use sextant; a device that could actually measure the angle between
two objects, the horizon and the sun.
Works with the presence of the Sun and mirrors,
where light coming from the Sun will then reflect to a mirror and to another
mirror leveled to eye’s view as well as to the horizon. With moveable arm to
adjust for measurement, and there you know now where to go. It been called
sextant for having 60° capacity.
Images Credit: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/navigate/escapeworks.html
Remora GPS Tracker. Copyright (c) 2013. All rights reserved.
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