The natural Navigation: The Right Course, Naturally

For better or worse I seem to have a sixth sense for when conditions are great very early in the morning. I woke at 5.30am and was instantly drawn out into the neighbouring field to take in the scene and to take a picture. The snow was being lit up from the south by the waning crescent moon, the stars were out in force and Mars was peering down in red confidence from high in the west.

I stepped over the style into the field, camera in one hand, tripod in another and then it all went wrong. To avoid waking anyone I had not stumbled around for my clothes in the dark, but opted for the worryingly standard kit for this time of day: pyjamas, thick coat and wellies. My left foot slipped a bit on the style’s ice and a successful bid to save my skin and camera…

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Everyone who starts their day outdoors welcomes dawn, but for natural navigators it is an important time that should be both enjoyed and absorbed. Sunrise is one of the best times to check our bearings, metaphorically and literally.

Something we need to look out for on land, and to a lesser extent at sea, is the light from towns. Light pollution is a perennial fiend for stargazers, but it can also throw us if we are searching for early signs of dawn, and its effects can be especially strong if there is low cloud.

The urban glow is unlikely to throw us a curveball if we have been studying the sky for a while, but it can be a problem if we emerge from darkness and take a first glimpse. The two photos above, which I took this morning, are only separated by twelve minutes and illustrate this quite well.…

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I gave a lecture at the Clothworker’s Hall in the City last night. I think it went well, no rotten fruit or vegetables came my way at least. It did mean a night in a hotel and the need to fill some time in the usual Alan Partridge style. It was at the hotel that I read the cover story in this month’s National Geographic about light pollution. All stargazers are aware of the problem and I thought that this was a story that had been done pretty thoroughly, but the NG approach was fresh and made for a satisfying read.

One sentence caused me to pause and then reread. After a second reading my jaw my have dropped a touch:

‘In the south Atlantic the glow from a single fishing fleet—squid fishermen luring their prey with metal halide lamps—can be seen from space, burning brighter, in fact, than…

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