#2078

[@KeritechElectronics]

Oh yeah, CuriousMarc's one is damn friggin' awesome! Yours might not have any electronics in it, but still a thing of beauty and a joy for ever.

[@anullhandle]

So don't lick your astro compass, got it. Fwiw your intro always makes me smile, i have the same switch but red white announciator colors sitting on a book shelf.

[@tedivester4947]

Back in the day, in 1965, while in college, I got a D in English midterms. beside my mother who had a English degree being enraged, I found myself in the Air Force, working on the various navigation systems on B-52's and KC-135's. On the B-52's was a device that by tracking stars would give 'True Heading'. By setting in Longitude and Latitude ( gotten from the location of the air force base), and azimuth and declination of the star (star booklets were issued semi-annually) a little prism on top of the plane would search for the star and lock on for the entire mission, giving again True Heading. It was a big system with a lot of black boxes including a couple of mechanical computers. One of those computers, located in a wheel well, would occasionally lock up requiring a technician to give it a good kick. The original reboot. Those were the days!

[@IMSAIGuy]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/pJzZf2pqrNqHbtksi=CUb-ye3ew5NZPPdM

[@tedivester4947]

@@IMSAIGuy Thank you Thank you! That really brought back memories. The tracker itself would be sent from depot repair in an 8 foot square aluminum shipping box. One of my jobs was inspecting the devices from depot. About 50% failed inspection. Can you imagine the shipping costs. Sometimes the guys when troubleshooting the system out on the flightline would initially set in a star and then set in a star 180 degrees in the opposite direction. The poor star tracker would try but would invariably lock up. Too much of a change. It needed baby steps. I would get to go out from my warm shop and spend a couple of hours getting things to work again. Again, those were the days for a 19 or 20 year old! Thank you again for leading to CuriousMarcs sight.

[@barrybogart5436]

@@IMSAIGuy OMG! Can't wait to see that thing work.

[@barrybogart5436]

Pretty much a navigation sextant except with them, you sight the celestial object. If it is the sun you need like a welder's glass filter so you don't go blind! Once in the USNR I forgot the step of converting the GHA to the LHA. Doh! But an obvious error.

[@noggin73]

Fascinating!

[@TomSherwood-z5l]

I assumed that that is why they had those plexiglass domes in the top of the plane for a 360 view of the sky? And I would assume they were trying to use it with the plane very steady like on autopilot as you could go nuts if the plane was pitching or rolling.

[@RealRobotZer0]

12:48 what kind of phone is that?

[@IMSAIGuy]

iPhone 15

[@RealRobotZer0]

Can someone please recommend similar app for android .skyview doesn't work on my phone, and i tried "star gazer" but that is a bad app.

[@zembalu]

Very intereting, thank you! I don't think, the local hour angle of the sun at noon is always 0°. That is only true for four days a year. The rest of the year, the sun follows a curve named lemniscate. You can determine the difference with the time equation, with in essence is the sum of two sine waves. That can add up to abt +/- 4°, which perhaps is irrelevant for avionic navigation.

[@barrybogart5436]

I believe you are right.

[@gizzzmonic]

where do you install the batteries?

[@stamasd8500]

In the flashlight so you can read the ephemerides at night. :P

[@corradoQC]

I happen to have one of these at home, my grand father was actually the one who used it during WWII, do you have a link to the file you used to print the bottom part ?

[@IMSAIGuy]

github.com/imsaiguy/Astro-Compass-MKII

[@corradoQC]

@@IMSAIGuy Wonderful, thanks.

[@mr1enrollment]

nice vid thanks

[@stamasd8500]

I want one :)

[@ats89117]

Lots of places to make mistakes. I wonder how often they screwed up and bombed the wrong location?