qondio.com/ci2f PRINT EMAIL
The search for Longtitude The ancient Greeks very early discovered that it was possible by measuring the apparent movement of the Sun and the Stars they could roughly work out the size of the Earth and establish certain surface co-ordinates relative to the Earth's equator. These North and South co-ordinates were called Latitude. It was far more difficult to calculate the east/west co-ordinates because there was no fixed point to measure from. Early civilizations set up a series of "arbitory" reference points based on important landmarks or cities, from which they calculated Longitude. But still, finding Longitude on land could only be calculated by pacing out the distance. The sextant provided the first truley accurate means to measure astronomical distances. One of the most widely and popular models was made by Jesse Ramsden which was manufactured around 1792. One of the best navigational tools used by early navigators was the mariner's astroglobe. It was a simplified version of the astronomical astroglobe, allowing the navigator to read the altitude of the Sun or stars against a curved scale.

Contributed by Phildave on June 4, 2008, at 6:12 AM UTC.

PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE

Vintage & used Lambretta motor scooters The one stop shop for everything Lambretta www.lambretta-shop.co.uk

Reactions

No reactions yet.

Rate This Intel

Please login or sign up to rate this intel.

Comments

Please login or sign up to add a comment.

Share

Copyright Notice

The copyright for this content entitled "The search for Longtitude" has been specified by the contributor as:

All Rights Reserved

This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.

Login Here with Any Email Address Any Password Remember login No account? Sign up.

Intel Contributor

This intel was contributed by Phildave Phildave

Qondio Archive

May, 2012 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 2008 January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2009 January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2010 January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2011 January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December 2012 January, February, March, April, May

Sign Up

Not a member yet? Qondio is a powerful network for making it online. If you have a website to promote, we can help. Sign up and get in on the action.

About Qondio

Welcome to Qondio! Discover the awesome power this network can deliver by going to our About page. Or you could skip straight to the Sign Up form.