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If the planet had a decent magnetic field, it might actually be quite easy to navigate. A sextant would get you "solar latitude" as it were (the angle of the su
by wolfram74 3y ago
If the planet had a decent magnetic field, it might actually be quite easy to navigate. A sextant would get you "solar latitude" as it were (the angle of the sun relative to the horizon defines a circle), and coupled with magnetic orientation I think that would narrow it down to one of four points on the day side of the planet (where the field lines have a given angle with the radius of the previously defined circle). Given even crude object permanence I think that should fix your position pretty well.
- amluto 3y agoOn the night side, you could get a decent idea of your absolute position by observing the stars, just like how you can do this on Earth if you have a good clock. On a tidally locked planet, your clock doesn’t need to be very good. I imagine that a similar if somewhat more complex trick works on the day side if there’s a visible moon.
- jonathanlydall 3y agoThe stars would still rotate around the planet, but the rotation would be that of the planet rotating around its star. So one would need timekeeping to track where you are in that cycle.
- amluto 3y agoIndeed, but process is quite a bit slower, so you could likely get away with a worse clock.
- IntrepidWorm 3y agoSince the cycle of stellar observation repeats each solar year, the observation would itself be a method of time keeping. One would need only to track the azimuth of a series of regularly positioned star constellations to determine time, and from there one could then ascertain location.
- saagarjha 3y agoDo tidally locked planets typically have a magnetic field?