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ERIC Number: EJ974131
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jan
Pages: 2
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0031-921X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Diurnal Astronomy: Using Sticks and Threads to Find Our Latitude on Earth
Camino, Nestor; Gangui, Alejandro
Physics Teacher, v50 n1 p40-41 Jan 2012
It is well known that the length and orientation of a shadow cast by a vertical gnomon depends on the time of the day and on the season of the year. But it also depends on the latitude of the site of observation. During the equinoxes, the temporal sequence of the shadows cast by each of the points that form any object follows a straight line from west to east. A simple construction using sticks and threads can be used to materialize the plane of the celestial equators local projection, giving us a way to calculate our astronomical latitude during daytime with high precision.
American Association of Physics Teachers. One Physics Ellipse, College Park, MD 20740. Tel: 301-209-3300; Fax: 301-209-0845; e-mail: pubs@aapt.org; Web site: http://scitation.aip.org/tpt
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A