Burbank Middle School asked "Do you carry any sort of telescopes on board or other sky watching equipment?"Captain Moore replied with this picture of one of the two sextants that are carried aboard ORV Alguita. This one has an inspection certificate from 1943! The other is a modern plastic sextant. Having a sextant on board the ship provides critical backup in case the electronic navigation system fails!
Learn more about how a sextant works at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/navigate/escapeworks.html
Learn how a sextants are used for celestial navigation at:
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/shackleton/navigate/escapenav.html
3 comments:
I gave the kids an assignment to find out what a sextant was and how it worked. It was hard to get past the sex---- part without my middle schoolers giggling but that's to be expected of this age group.
Did you get off to the right start this morning as you departed? Any good photos of the Alguita leaving shore? Where did the name Alguita orignate and why did you choose that name? I have a page full of questions for you from two classes, so I'm compiling them into one email. Good Luck and God, or whatever deity you honor, Bless!
Lucy
Intresting, the websites you had for the sextant are the same ones I put up on the Alguita bulletin board??? Let's see what my kids come up with on their reports!
One other comment, 'education packet' is this a compilation of information or what?
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