astronomy – The Natural Navigator

Astro Photo Quiz

05 January 2012 by Tristan Gooley

This really is one of the best astronomical photographs I have ever come across. It is amazing even before you notice that the sea is glowing with bioluminescent algae.

Congratulations Sim on taking this fantastic photograph and allowing me to share it and thanks Mark for sending it my way.

To celebrate this great pic, I thought a little quiz would be fun. Or to be more precise, several shades of the same question…

To make this more interesting I’m going to give you the opportunity to test yourselves at the level you feel most comfortable with. Anyone who has been on my Beginner’s Guide to Natural Navigation course or read The Natural Navigator book, should be able to crack this at one level at least.

Depending on your level of confidence try one of the questions below, A is very difficult, B slightly easier etc. (Don’t read…

Tags: astronavigation, astronomers, astronomy, astrophotography, award, latitude, Masirah Island, oman, photo |

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Astronomy in Literature

30 August 2011 by Tristan Gooley

The research that I have been doing for the book I am currently writing led me to an interesting study. Academics have found that there is an inverse relationship between wealth and awareness of nature. This trend appears to be true in places as different as Indonesia and the UK.

The number of local plant species that people can identify tends to be inversely proportional to their income. The study did not reveal whether this was a cultural phenomenon or purely economic one, ie. do people know solely because they need to or also because they want to?

I was reminded of this study yesterday evening as I re-read an old favourite of mine, George Orwell’s ‘Down and Out in Paris and London‘. One of my favourite passages about the stars can be found in this book. Orwell is spending time with a ‘screever’, a pavement artist, and finds this…

Tags: Aldebaran, astronomy, Eton, George Orwell, natural, natural awareness, natural observation, nature, nature philosophy |

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Welcome to the home of natural navigation on the Internet.

Natural navigation is the art of being able to find your way solely by using nature. It encompasses using the sun, moon, stars, weather, water, land, sea, plants and animals.

The Natural Navigator is the school set up by Tristan Gooley to research and teach natural navigation. It is also the title of his book on the subject.

If you would like to know more about natural navigation you can browse the website, read about Tristan’s natural navigation book, or listen to a BBC Radio 4 interview with Tristan.

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BBC Sciences & Nature
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  Experts say they have seen an increase in the number of Britain's most dangerous spider, the false widow. But should it worry us? […]
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- AUDIO: UK 'overtakes US' in physics February 22, 2012
  Dr Beth Taylor of the Institute of Physics explains why Britain has overtaken the US in the field of physics research. […]
- Path of tsunami debris mapped out February 22, 2012
  A year on, modellers continue to provide daily forecasts of the likely spread of floating debris washed out into the Pacific by the Japanese Tohoku megatsunami. […]
- VIDEO: Petition calls for cormorant cull February 22, 2012
  A petition calling for more cormorants to be culled is being handed to the Fisheries Minister. […]
- Nuclear space bomb 'quite likely' February 22, 2012
  The government must take "more seriously" the threat of a nuclear weapon being exploded in space by a rogue state, MPs warn. […]
- Humboldt squid's impressive dives February 22, 2012
  Scientists tag Humboldt squid as they dive through very low-oxygen waters off the coast of California. […]
- Ancient tracks are elephant herd February 22, 2012
  Vast trails of seven-million-year-old fossilised footprints reveal the "social structure" of prehistoric elephants, say scientists. […]
- Amphibian family first for India February 22, 2012
  A new family of caecilians, the most enigmatic branch of the amphibians, has been discovered in northeastern India. […]
- UK study reveals GPS jamming use February 22, 2012
  The illegal use of Global Positioning System (GPS) jammers in the UK is highlighted in a new study. […]

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