So I’m hoping this will be the first in a series of episodes talking about astronomy in the movies. Hope you enjoy it.
Michael Siegel
Michael Siegel is an astronomer living in Pennsylvania. He blogs at his own site, and has written a novel.
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Excellent. You explain this very well.Report
Oh, dude. This was *AWESOME*.Report
One thing I always wanted to learn in the Navy was how to navigate with a watch and a sextant. Unfortunately, my motorcycle accident happened before I had the chance.
I’ve since learned the basics, but I don’t have a sextant to practice with. I should probably correct that…Report
This made me curious. I know that it’s possible to spend five figures on a sextant, I was wondering whether it was possible to get a cheap one… and what “cheap” meant. $800? $200? $99?
How’s 36 bucks sound? (Plus S&H, of course.)
Ebay also seems to have a couple of brass ones for less than that, but I wouldn’t bet on getting a brass one for $27.
But for a couple hundred bucks, it looks like there are some really good options too.Report
I’d be leary of some of the brass ones I see on Amazon. Just looking at them makes me think of overpriced historical replica swords and knives you see on some sites.
Probably go for something more like this:
https://www.celestaire.com/product/davis-mark-25-sextant/
No real need for brass, just need something salt water won’t destroy.Report
This is weird, was I just watching a video about this? Or had it come up previously on these threads? I swear I just heard a conversation about sextant material.Report
Oops. I just went to YouTube to try to track down what I saw, and I typed in “movie sextant”. Don’t do that. Apparently the algorithm thinks you’re looking for erotica.Report
Why are they called that? Because (etymonline.com says) it has an arc of 60 degrees, which is one sixth (or in Latin sextans) of a circle.Report
We had cheaper ones we got through educational sellers when I was in grad school. Don’t know if they’re still out there.Report
Have you seen the movie Escape Plan?
It’s not a movie I wholeheartedly recommend (more of a “sheepishly recommend… maybe have it on a Friday night so you can have some pizza and a couple of beers with it…”) but one of the plot points revolves around how you might make a sextant out of stuff you have available in a prison.Report