I'd appreicate your thoughts on using the North Star to navigate at night.

What should the hiker consider?

Thanks in advance.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com

Cloud cover.

Hemisphere?

How to locate it. Contrary to popular belief, it isn't the brightest star in the sky.

Here's a website to get you started:
http://souledout.org/nightsky/bigdippernavigation/bigdippernavigation.html

I am a firm believer in knowing the night sky, especially the Big Dipper and the NS. It has come in handy for me when navigating in areas where local variation (iron in lava flows was deflecting the needle).

If you are ever steering a ship at night, it is much easier to pick a star that is on your course, and steer by that, rather than constantly consulting the ship's compass. Over a few hours, you may need to change stars, but that is easy to accomplish (as long as cloud cover doesn't interfere).

If there are clouds present, it really helps to know some of the other constellations to at least determine approximate directions. This requires study before hand.

It's not available for iPhone, only Android. There is, however, http://www.google.com/sky/, which works for my iPhone and my PC.

We're using Google's Sky Map with my new Android tablet. I's pretty darned cool and is really making it easier for DS to learn.

Give yourself a lot of time learning celestial nav and practice it when you know where you are and where you're going (with primary nav available). See what happens when you go with celestial nav, only using map/compass/GPS as a back-up when you go off course. Counting on it as a back-up when you haven't really practiced it is a bad way to find out what you don't know.

North star nav is great - if you are going North. Failing that, have a map, compass, flashlight and maybe a GPS. Terrain association at night is really tricky.

Just sayin

There are a number of books out there which talk about celestial and natural navigation, such as: The Natural Navigator: A Watchful Explorer's Guide to a Nearly Forgotten Skill by Tristan Gooley and Finding Your Way Without Map or Compass Harold Gatty (although this book is a bit older). Understanding the environment you are going into before you go, such as prevailing winds, constellations which should be visible at that time of year, animal habits etc, is very important to navigate properly. I recommend these books, but think about your environment and what works for you.

I ordered the book a few days ago. Looking forward to reading it.

Blake

www.outdoorquest.blogspot.com