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Navigating by our Big Dipper


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So how many dippers is in our sky ?.

 

WHAT only one dipper ?????.

 

Wrong !!! again. There is two dippers in our sky.

One is the Big Dipper where the end points to our Polar Star that never moves only up and down somewhat.

The big dipper is in our northern hemisphere but in observing our sky I see the ( Lesser Dipper ). And that is in our low southern sky.

 

So in navigating our ocean in true east and west direction I can navigate between the big dipper and the Lesser dipper when plying the ocean.

 

I am a retired Blue Diamond Almond grower all my life. I am calling the southern Lesser dipper.

 

( THE FARMERS DIPPER ) I think some astronomer should write that down.

 

So when you go out at nite to see the big dipper and then look to the opposite southern sky and you will see ( The Farmers Dipper ). Look it over its very interesting.

 

 

John T.

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Where is that in the sky ?.

 

 

http://www.allthesky.com/various/preview/umaumim-p.jpg

 

The Little Dipper is the constellalion shown as Ursa Minor in this image and is shown in relation to to the Big Dipper(Ursa Major). Polaris is the North star.

 

The terms Little Dipper and Big Dipper are fairly modern, as originally they were known as the Little Bear and Big Bear as reflected by their official names.

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No thats not the one i'm looking at.

 

Oposite direction in the very low south sky and its an exact duplicate of the Big Dipper but somewhat smaller with a dipper and a handle on it.

:doh: Its over the Antactic

 

What you show is not in that location.

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your sense of ownership must not exceed the level of a two year old. you cannot simply point at something and yell 'MINE' and make it yours. this is not the way the world works.

 

On some level, I think does. But, that's off topic.

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So how many dippers is in our sky ?.

 

WHAT only one dipper ?????.

 

Wrong !!! again. There is two dippers in our sky.

One is the Big Dipper where the end points to our Polar Star that never moves only up and down somewhat.

The big dipper is in our northern hemisphere but in observing our sky I see the ( Lesser Dipper ). And that is in our low southern sky.

 

From your description, I'd say that what you are seeing is part of the constellation Sagittarius

 

So in navigating our ocean in true east and west direction I can navigate between the big dipper and the Lesser dipper when plying the ocean.

 

 

Not very practical. For one, Sagittarius is only visible at night in the Northern hemisphere during part of the year, and for another, both these constellations move in the night sky from sunset to sunrise. So if you pick a line between them, to navigate by it will be changing direction as the night progresses. You may start out heading due West and end up heading North West by the time the night is over.

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your sense of ownership must not exceed the level of a two year old. you cannot simply point at something and yell 'MINE' and make it yours. this is not the way the world works.

 

Exactly. In the adult world you must yell "Mine" much longer and louder than anyone else, and have bigger guns.

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Your looking north right ?.

 

Try looking to the low southern sky at night. Twards antarctic.

 

Sagittarius rises in the lower Southern sky as seen from the Northern hemisphere, this is why I said that it matches your description. It is in the Southern sky and a group of bright stars within it follow a shape similar to the Big Dipper.

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  • 1 month later...

So we have in our north is called the Big Dipper that the edge points to a star called Polaris for navigation.

 

But in our low southern sky there is a replica of a dipper that looks like the big dipper.

you have to look south twards anarctica.

 

This dipper is smaller that the big dipper with a handle also.

And NO its not the southern cross.

 

I call this small Dipper the ( Lesser Dipper ) and also can be used for navigation on the high seas.

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I thought Ursa Major was the big dipper, and that Ursa Minor had Polaris at the end of its handle.

The handles bend in opposite directions, one constellation is bigger than the other also.

 

The nearest constellation to the south pole is Octans, which looks more like a wine glass than a saucepan to me.

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