It is fairly simple to use, but doing something with the results are very complex. The mirrors are designed to allow you to measure the angle between a star or planet and the horizon. Basically looking through the eye piece at the body in question and adjusting the arms with a sort of rocking motion so that the body appears to touch the horizon will allow you to read the angle. This also has to be done with an exact time reference. The time factors into the complex series of calculations that allow you to determine where to draw a line on your map or chart.
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Using a sextant, measure the angle between the horizon and the North Star.The angle of inclination on the sextant eyepiece will give you the Latitude that you are standing/sailing at.latitude is measured east and west of the Equator.
Yes, but not as much as it used to. The nice thing (for a sailor) about having a sextant and knowing how to use it is that it requires no electrical power, and will continue to work even if massive solar storms destroy all the GPS satellites.
Historically, latitude was always measured with the sextant, and longitude with the chronograph (clock). Nowadays, it's all GPS. ------------------- The "sextant", from the latin word for "six", is one-sixth of a circle, and is the primary tool used in celestial navigation. However, before the sextant came into widespread use, the "quadrant" of a quarter-circle and the later "octant", an eighth of a circle, were used.
Sextant.
sextant
you use a sextant to navigate.
the sextant helped me navagate my way to alaska
Yes Christopher Columbus did use a sextant along with a compass, ampoletta, and a cross staff.
by using it
the sextant
Use a sextant
He used a compass and a sextant on his expedition. :)
A sextant is a navigational instrument that sights upon the stars to determine a ship's position. This instrument was crucial to naval navigation until global positioning became a reality in the late 20th century. "Henry the Navigator prized his sextant while on his journeys to the New World." "The ship's position is determined by the use of the ship's navigator using a sextant."
you can find sextant on history.com
Sextant
you draw a sextant by looking at googler in the images.
he was and italian navigator what do they use for exploring