planisphere help

[ottoman]

right im prob asking really silly questions here but here goes!

once you have set your time on the planisphere, it tells u to hold it up orintate it in the direction of south. Now is this magnetic pole or true poles? and is there a easy way i can find my poles by looking in the sky? or shall i just buy a compass? hehe

cheers

dan

[Psychobilly]

Hi Dan ...

First thing to learn is how to find Polaris using the Pionter stars in the Plough or "big Dipper" and The W of Cassiopea tehnyou'll be able to orientate yourself and get the planisphere aligned with the sky.

If you haven't tried it yet Stellarium is a great introduction to the Sky and is available free to download...

http://www.stellarium.cn/

Set it up with your latitude and longitude (available from google maps) and you'll get vies of your sky with teh atmospheric effect s of dawn and dusk etc rendered as well...

Billy..

[Talitha]

Hi Dan, just use geographic south... the planisphere doesn't require exactness to be used properly. If you're uncertain which way south is from your observing location and need to use a compass in order to locate geomagnetic north, the compass bearing will be more than sufficient to get you pointed in the right direction to use the planisphere. Geographic north and geomagnetic north are close enough to get you into the ballpark. On the other hand, if you have a good idea which way south is, just face that way and you're good to go.

One more thing.. our man-made time changes need to be taken into consideration when using the planisphere, so be sure you adjust the time on the wheel accordingly.

[ottoman]

cheers guys!!!!!!!!!!!!

[TheThing]

If you don't have a compass, you'll be facing roughly north when the sun rise on your right and sets on your left (although, that's a l-o-n-g time to be standing outside! :mrgreen: )

[proflight2000]

Or the novel approach, on a good sunny day stand outside at mid-day, put your left shoulder to the sun and the shadow cast on your right is north.