Latitude from the Sky

The pole star’s height

An interactive lesson with 6 steps, about 5 minutes: you predict, drag and solve, with instant feedback on every answer. It runs in your browser and needs JavaScript.

What you’ll learn

• The altitude of Polaris equals your latitude (northern hemisphere).
• The Sun’s noon altitude, adjusted for the date, also gives latitude.
• Latitude was the “easy” coordinate for navigators.

Steps

1. A star above the pole
2. Where are you?
3. The noon Sun
4. Midsummer noon
5. Sun overhead
6. Down under