HINT: The spoon of the Big Dipper points to the North Star. Click here for a hint.
As you travel north
or south, the sun and the stars change position. The sun is higher as
you move towards the equator. This is why it is warmer, for example,
in Florida than in New
York.
Columbus used a device called a Quadrant to site the north star and measure its height above the horizon. If you are north of the equator, the height of north star is the same as your latitude.
Can you click on the north star on the left side of the screen? If you can't, don't feel bad. Based on errors in his ship's log, some historians think Columbus also got this wrong! I tried my hand at using a quadrant on NOAA Ship Henry Bigelow. Click here to see how I did.
Would you like to try celestial navigation yourself? Download the plans here to make your own quadrant. This is the device that Columbus used to navigate across the ocean. Just remember one thing: NEVER LOOK DIRECTLY AT THE SUN! Many sea captains in Columbus' time were partially blind from using this device to measure the height of the sun! If you make your own quadrant, use it to site the North Star, not the Sun!