Happy First Day of Fall 2013!!

 

 

First day of fall.  Sunset over Carleton Island. 

Below the picture is some interesting astronomy trivia.



 

 

Toady on the Fall Equinox the Sun sets due west or 270 degrees true azimuth and rises due east 90 degrees.  The sun won't set or rise in these  positions against until the first day of spring on approximately March 21st  six  months from now. 

From now until approximately Dec 21st the Sun will set each day further and further south of west.  Here in Cape Vincent the Sun will finally reach about 237 degrees true azimuth at sunset (SW) on the horizon on Dec 21st, and then start it's progression back north till on June 21st it will set at 303 true degrees (NW) on the horizon.

 From the June 21st Summer Solstice till the Dec 21st Winter Solstice the Sun will swing an amazing 66 degrees along the horizon at sunset.  The same is true for sunrise.

I am an amateur astronomer and also  teach wilderness survival navigation to my search and rescue team and other SAR agencies and national park rangers and law enforcement officers who patrol remote terrain. The position of the sunset and sunrise  during the year and each hours during the day is extremely important for survival or primitive navigation skills to find day time direction.  In my classes I ask my students where the sunset sets and rises.  Most will say west and east. Many don't understand that each day the Sun sets or rises in a slightly different location on the horizon.

So let's say you try to walk an accurate direction west by trying to walk toward the sunset. But if it is the Winter Solstice you will be walking approximately 30 degrees south of west, not actually west. 30 degrees off your route.  If you walk five miles with this error you will be almost 3 miles south of your actual intended destination.  In the forest or in complex rugged terrain that will be a huge deal. 

The Sun in survival navigation with no GPS, compass, or  map  is critical to navigate in the day since there is no North Star visible and thus no easy way to find north.  This is especially true in wooded or forested terrain were long distance views are very limited. Most people talk about finding north, but during the day with some primitive techniques you find south first then north.

In my classes my students have to navigate during the day and at night with no instruments in difficult terrain and precisely find certain remote locations  marked on a map to be able to continue.  In the dark at least one location is a remote survey post about the size of a coffee cup in a deep dark very confusing forest.  And even with a map, it doesn't do you much good unless you can orient it in the right direction, and know where you are on that map.

In this age of GPS with so many people depending on very high tech GPS navigation they are always amazed how well they can do using natural elements to navigate pretty accurately.  A primitive skill most of us have lost touch with.

And when these students get lost, they have to figure out how to use the techniques we teach them to work out the problem and get to safety.  But we let them stay lost for quite  a while so they get a feel for what the people we search for are going through and how confusing it quickly becomes, and the serious and disorienting mind games being lost plays on your head. 

Have a good Fall!