Comment by oska
7 years ago
I appreciate that this monument is in the northern hemisphere and so the discussion of Polaris is entirely appropriate. But still some universal statements are made which are simply false when we remember there is one half of the world that looks to the other celestial centre in the night sky. One example:
> The reason we have historically paid so much attention to this celestial center, or North Star, is because it is the star that stays put all through the course of the night. Having this one fixed point in the sky is the foundation of all celestial navigation.
The Polynesian navigators, who achieved amazing feats of open water navigation, managed to sail deep into the southern hemisphere (as far south as New Zealand) where Polaris is simply not ever visible. But they still practiced celestial navigation without this 'foundation'. [1] The European explorers, who sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Strait of Magellan and across the Southern Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans, also likewise had to do without this 'foundation'.
When you come from the southern hemisphere you notice this casual, unthinking "northern hemispherism" all the time.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polynesian_navigation#Navigati...
Emphasis on the Northern Hemisphere is not arbitrary. 90% of humans live there.
Emphasis is fine. What I am referring to is when people generalise things that are specific or local to the northern hemisphere onto the whole world.
At some point these just become exceptions. 10% of people are left-handed, but we don't constantly re-write all instructions for that small minority, and left-handers don't waste time constantly pointing out that right-handers are making overly broad generalizations.
No one reasonably interprets "Having this one fixed point in the sky is the foundation of all celestial navigation" to mean "All celestial navigation in all circumstances requires a view of Polaris". For instance, people still do celestial navigation in the Northern Hemisphere when Polaris is obscured by terrain. But no one would use that fact to point out that the author's statement was wrong, and that when you're from a low-latitude mountainous area you notice this "high-latitude/non-mountainous-ism" all the time.
The method to find south using constellations is quite easy and useful, once you know how. I imagine it's one reason why the Southern Cross is culturally significant in the southern hemisphere.
http://www.abc.net.au/science/articles/2009/07/27/3169018.ht...