Lost at Sea

Latitudeglobe

Your search of the internet reveals that you are able to use the sun to identify your ship's position or latitude and longitude.

To find your latitude, you need two things:

  • The sun’s ZENITH distance, which is the angle the sun makes with a vertical line directly overhead.
  • The use of a sextant is suggested to find the sun’s ALTITUDE or angle above the horizon. From that you can easily find the Zenith distance.

If you know the exact time then you can look up tables to find DECLINATION,

or latitude where the sun would be directly overhead at the same time.

View the animation showing how to find your latitude

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