Ok, so I just learned how using a star to track direction is supposed to work. Basically you set up two sticks one smaller than the one in front, and use them to line your vision up with a star. The rule is, if the star moves up, you’re facing east. If the star moves down, you’re facing west. If the star moves left, you’re facing north. If the star moves right, you’re facing south.
What’s got me confused is how does a star moving left indicate you’re facing north? On a compass east is 90 degrees to the right of north, so if you’re facing north, shouldn’t it look like the star is moving to the right?
In: 2
Well, the stars themselves aren’t moving, but the earth *is* rotating. So as you trace how the stars “move” across the sky, you will see that they travel from *east* to *west*. Has nothing to do with compasses specifically, because those work based on magnetic fields on earth, not the motion of the stars.
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