Galaxy AS GUIDE Navigating by the Stars
As I write, I’m listening to the song “Stand” by R.E.M. The lyrics include, “Stand in the place where you live/ Now face north/ Think about direction, wonder why you haven’t before/ Now stand in the place where you work/ Now face west, think about the place where you live/ Wonder why you haven’t before.”
I live in northeast Kansas. For my daily commute, I travel east in the morning and west in the evening. On many mornings, I see the sunrise, and in the evenings, I watch the sunset. Each morning, the sun rises at a different point on the eastern horizon, and each evening, it slips below the western horizon at a different point.
What causes the sun to travel across the sky and along the horizon? This is important to understand when we use stars, including our sun, to navigate. Because the Earth is spinning on its axis, the sun, stars, and moon appear to travel across the sky from east to west. The Earth isn’t straight up-and-down on its axis; it has about a 23-degree slant. In addition to spinning, the Earth also travels around the sun once a year. So, each day, the Earth is in a slightly different place in relation to the sun and other more distant stars. The combination
