The Osprey - most deadly USA aircraft?

[tous]

8 minutes ago, janice6 said:

Preliminary is inertial guidance, yes star position is also used.

Indeed.

The biggest problem that I see is that there is no such thing as a space compass.

How do you keep a constant heading and allow for drift?

Sail on to yonder star?

I suppose you might substitute gravitational pull from the center of the galaxy as a substitute?

But, only if the gravity is consistent and constant.

Point your craft at the black hole?

I will need to ponder some.

 

[tous]

So, in order to consistently navigate in space, we need a constant reference, like magnetic north on the Earth.

Sorry Flat Earthers, the planet is mostly a sphere.

You'll never get a job as a space navigator.

 

So, what can we use as  a magnetic north reference in space?

After some pondering,  I suggest pulsars and quasars.

Pulsars emit tremendous beams of hard radiation on a consistent schedule, some what like they geyser Old Faithful.

The problem is, the emission is so focused, one must be facing it to detect it.

We can develop a means to get around that limitation.

There are many, many pulsars in the galaxy and each emit a unique signature.

It's what we humans do.

The other possible constant reference in the galaxy is a quasar.

Quasars, like pulsars, emit powerful radiation, in this case, electromagnetic radiation.

That means that we can observe the emission and determine where the quasar is by interpreting the light shift.

And, since it isn't a tightly focused beam like a pulsar, quasars, and again, there are many, many of them in a galaxy, don't require line of sight.

And like pulsars,  each emit a unique signature.

Or, as Captain Kirk replied when asked for a direction, he pointed and ordered, Thata way.

 

Does this seem like it has potential?

 

 

 

[janice6]

6 hours ago, tous said:

Indeed.

The biggest problem that I see is that there is no such thing as a space compass.

How do you keep a constant heading and allow for drift?

Sail on to yonder star?

I suppose you might substitute gravitational pull from the center of the galaxy as a substitute?

But, only if the gravity is consistent and constant.

Point your craft at the black hole?

I will need to ponder some.

 

I thought one of the "deep space" movies said that they couldn't go to a point in deep space that they haven't been to.  I thought this is fascinating.

[janice6]

4 hours ago, tous said:

So, in order to consistently navigate in space, we need a constant reference, like magnetic north on the Earth.

Sorry Flat Earthers, the planet is mostly a sphere.

You'll never get a job as a space navigator.

 

So, what can we use as  a magnetic north reference in space?

After some pondering,  I suggest pulsars and quasars.

Pulsars emit tremendous beams of hard radiation on a consistent schedule, some what like they geyser Old Faithful.

The problem is, the emission is so focused, one must be facing it to detect it.

We can develop a means to get around that limitation.

There are many, many pulsars in the galaxy and each emit a unique signature.

It's what we humans do.

The other possible constant reference in the galaxy is a quasar.

Quasars, like pulsars, emit powerful radiation, in this case, electromagnetic radiation.

That means that we can observe the emission and determine where the quasar is by interpreting the light shift.

And, since it isn't a tightly focused beam like a pulsar, quasars, and again, there are many, many of them in a galaxy, don't require line of sight.

And like pulsars,  each emit a unique signature.

Or, as Captain Kirk relied when asked for a direction, he pointed and ordered, Thata way.

 

Does this seem like it has potential?

 

 

 

sounds like we should look for a pattern of some predetermined number of specific Quasars. 

With a unique pattern of position of this shape in the Galaxy we could then determine our point in space by the arrangement of the specific pattern.  Think for example, maybe seven Quasars each identifiable from the other, it's like having a geometric solid of unique shape.  How that shape appeared to vary to us would determine your position in three dimensions.................  Maybe.

[pipedreams]

9 hours ago, janice6 said:

 

I wrap my head around Nautical miles by thinking in terms of 2,000 yards, my way of thinking.

They started wanting everything in metric when I was in the army.  I always got away with one meter = one yard when doing range estimates.  1 meter = 1.093613 yard, worked great when using a machine gun, mortar or grenade.  I could visualize yards but had a difficult time with meters. Good thing I didn't have to deal with miles...........lol

[gwalchmai]

9 hours ago, janice6 said:

Yeah.  I didn't plot the course or track the position.  However, I did relieve the radar operator occasionally and most of the time we used that for navigation. Kind of like Columbus did.

Columbus did NOT use radar. He used sonar.

"Hey, Luigi! You a-see any land from up ina that crow's nest?"

"Not yet-a, Boss! I send out-a one ping an see if-a anythin' pings a-me back!"

"That-a Luigi's a good boy!"

[tous]

8 hours ago, janice6 said:

sounds like we should look for a pattern of some predetermined number of specific Quasars. 

With a unique pattern of position of this shape in the Galaxy we could then determine our point in space by the arrangement of the specific pattern.  Think for example, maybe seven Quasars each identifiable from the other, it's like having a geometric solid of unique shape.  How that shape appeared to vary to us would determine your position in three dimensions.................  Maybe.

Isn't pondering the most fun you can have with your clothes on?

[railfancwb]

5 hours ago, tous said:

Isn't pondering the most fun you can have with your clothes on?

Some have suggested piloting a light airplane qualifies.