We started with theory indoors at the offices of Outward Bound Oman, with the help of planetarium software and makeshift whiteboards (paper Sellotaped to a cupboard). After three hours of theory, it was time to head out in 4x4s for a 3 hour drive into the desert, for some more practical training.

We tracked the sun down to the horizon and confirmed that it had indeed set a good 15 degrees south of west. We looked at the way the wind had shaped some small plants and then how the crescent moon was pointing perfectly south. After some dahl and rice it was time to sit on the mats on the sand and get apply the astronavigation theory to the night sky. Jupiter beamed brightly from the east.

At a latitude of 23 degrees and at that time of year the Plough is too low to use, so we focused on Cassiopeia. I also pointed out the Navigator’s Triangle and the way the ‘cross’ of Cygnus can be used to find north. The final method we used was the square of Pegasus. More importantly we studied the movement of the stars, before settling in for an early night.

The following morning there was too much cloud cover for stars so we packed up and got ready to make the most of the early morning cool for some daytime exercises. Picking my mat up off the sand I was confronted with the realisation that I had been sleeping over an unwelcome guest: a scorpion (see photo below). This was the first of many encounters in 48 hours. (That night, I felt a tickle on my foot as I went for a pee and a flash of the headtorch revealed that worse than poor aiming, it was another good-sized scorpion crawling over my foot. Like hornets and other unwelcome ‘friends’, scorpion sightings are fortunately much more frequent than scorpion stings, which remain rarer and much less deadly than their reputation. That was hopefully of some comfort to Gary Lyon, a consulting instructor, who was sleeping nearest me and received a nasty scorpion sting on his foot. He was much more stoical about the whole thing than I would have been!)

We spent the morning looking at clues in the sun, the dunes, the trees, the wind and clouds. Then we did some exercises in gauging distance using paces and perspective.

We sat out the midday heat in the shade, which gave me a chance to have a really fascinating discussion with Eric Staples. Eric is an authority on medieval Arabic navigation, he has personally overseen the rebuilding of many historical Omani sailing vessels and has a passion for historical Arabic navigational techniques. Together we spent a wonderful couple of hours trying, successfully I believe, to unlock some secrets in a Arabic text regarding the use of the Pole Star by reference to the lunar mansions. It was great teamwork, Eric’s knowledge of medieval Arabic is of the highest order and my familiarity with some of the techniques they referred to helped us solve some tricky passages. Great fun, but not for the faint-hearted!

Later that day we were able to use a ‘kamal‘ that Eric had fashioned from traditional materials of wood and twine. This simple instrument was used by the earliest sailors and desert travellers as a means of establishing latitude. More on that another time.

I also was privileged to spend time with Dr. Andrew Spalton, the leading conservationist authority in Oman.

On the final morning at 5am we enjoyed good sightings of Orion, Leo, Mars, Gemini, Procyon, Taurus, Pleiades and a whole host of others. We used Capella and Auriga to find north. As the sun rose, 15 degrees south of east, it was sadly time to go.

My heartiest thanks to Mark Evans at Outward Bound Oman for inviting me to Oman and to his instructors for the patience and enthusiasm. What a country!

In the photo at the top we are looking north along linear sand dunes. These dunes form when two complementary winds channel the sand into long, often dependable dunes. The winds had clearly blown more from the southeast than the southwest, as the eastern flank was the firm shallower windward side and the western side was the softer steeper slip-face.

Thank you to everyone who came to the course at the Royal Geographical Society on Friday. Also to those who came to the talk and walk on Saturday and to Rohan for organising and sponsoring the event.

I have just returned from a wonderful two days in the desert in Oman, where I have been teaching a group of Outward Bound Oman instructors some techniques for them to pass on to their students. In the picture above we are marking out the shadows from a stick in the sand.

We also looked at the clues in the dunes, the trees and smaller plants, the weather, the stars, moon and planets and many other things which I will be revisiting here on the blog when the desert dust falls off my rucksack and settles a bit.

One of the many highlights of the short trip was a chance to meet some people who share a passion for knowledge about the outdoors. More to follow…

Late September can bring some of the best early evening experiences for those who enjoy looking upwards.

Visibility is likely to fluctuate a bit, but it looks as though we may get some of the best stargazing weather of the year over the next few nights. It promises to be warm enough to enjoy long spells outside, but without the crazily late sunsets of midsummer.

I’ll point out a few of the things worth looking for in a minute, but first just a few words about this weather.

On my courses I encourage people to take note of shifts in wind direction and how this relates to changes in weather patterns. If the weather is unseasonably warm or cold, we should expect some deviation from the prevailing wind direction, southwest.

The image above shows the UK (at lunchtime tomorrow) sandwiched neatly between a high pressure system over the continent and a couple out in the Atlantic. Winds rotate clockwise around a high pressure system and anti-clockwise round a low pressure. The net effect for us will be winds that will be coming from the south and southeast. Southerly winds tend to bring warmer air, and southeasterly winds from over the continent bring drier air than the moist southwesterly winds from over the Atlantic. Hence the warm and dry conditions.

On to the night sky…

As the sun sets the brightest stars will start to show their face. The bright yellow and orange Arcturus will appear low in the west not long after sunset.

In the south there will be three bright white stars worth looking for. Search for a large triangle that occupies the high southern sky. This triangle is made up of the three brightest stars, Altair, Deneb and Vega, from the constellations Aquila, Cygnus and Lyra. It is not surprising that sailors have learned to abbreviate this family to the nickname ‘The Summer Triangle’ or ‘The Navigator’s Triangle’.

The star of the show will undoubtedly be Jupiter, rising at about 8pm just north of east, he will be ruling the eastern sky with pomp by 9.30pm.

Many, many people will accuse this majestically bright white object of being Venus, Sirius or the North Star.

In reverse order, it can’t be the North Star as that is not a particularly bright star (and, as you may well have deduced, is in the north not the east) and it couldn’t be Sirius as Orion is nowhere to be seen. There is no way that it could be Venus, as Venus lives near the sun. If the sun has set then it is well to the west of us and we are looking east.

If you are up early in the mornings, Orion will be on watch over the southern sky, with Sirius burning brightly not far below him.

Enjoy.

You may also just be able to see a star to the right of Venus and slightly higher. This is Spica in the constellation Virgo. Minutes after this picture was taken Spica had disappeared from view, drowned in the dawn’s growing light. Venus would not be bullied so easily from the sky and remained beacon bright. This is one of the easiest ways of telling that you are looking at a planet, they are usually the first to arrive and the last to leave the night party.

Saturn was visible earlier on, higher in the eastern sky than Venus or Spica, but is far from its brightest at the moment. It is at the party, but leaning against the wall and sipping on a drink, moodily.

On Wednesday night I joined Clare and the Ramblings team for a walk on the South Downs Way; we headed west from Amberley, finishing at the Bignor Hill car park. We were treated to stars, planets and a full moon. I’ll let you know when it is airing, but should be sometime in June.

I felt hugely privileged and honoured throughout the walk, as early on Clare revealed that she has been embarking on walks for the Ramblings series for nearly 10 years, but this was the first ever night walk.

Did you know that in the UK a full moon rises close to southeast in summer and nearer to northeast in winter? (If you find viewing the full moon from the UK all a bit, well, normal then here is a website for escapists with information about the full moon parties on Koh Phangan in Thailand.)

If the sky is clear we will get a very good view of Mars in the east in the early evening. Sitting between the constellations of Leo (easy to find) and Cancer (hard to find), it will be rising about thirty degrees north of east at dusk and pass through due east at 8.30pm. By then Orion, below the high moon, will have moved to occupy a large part of the southern sky. If you follow Orion’s belt down to nearer the horizon then low in the southeast you will see the brightest star of them all, Sirius.

If you do happen to be awake late, then Mars will have moved to be due south and high in the sky by 1am. By this time the moon will have begun its steep descent in the west. If you are enjoying this in fresh air then you will either be very cold, or the owner of some excellent outdoor kit.

The moment a celestial object reaches its highest point in the sky it will be due north or south. Simples! As those meerkats like to say. Well, the principle is beautifully simple, but the practice is a bit more involved. Hence the use of shadow sticks, and sextants for that matter.