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Re: How do you follow a star?

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On 26/12/2016 5:08 PM, Yuri Kreaton wrote:
> On 12/25/2016 11:08 PM, Sylvia Else wrote:
>> On 26/12/2016 3:03 PM, john wrote:
>>> Sylvia
>>> "
>>> I think you've been watching too much television.
>>>
>>> All geosynchronous satellites orbit at the same altitude. They have to.
>>> There's no choice in the matter. They're also all in equatorial orbits.
>>>
>>> Sylvia.
>>> "
>>> See Yuri's comment on "satellite drag".
>>> Presumably, one neutralizes that, somehow
>>>
>>
>> No, and there's negligible drag on a satellite in geosynchronous orbit
>> anyway.
>>
>> Sylvia.
>
> I think that bounds the "Wise Men" problem,
> if you have to use a star (or satellite) as an indicator of a fixed
> position on earth, then it must
>
>      1.  be in the geosync height, 22,230 miles up, to remain stationary
> w earth surface.
>      2.  fixed position can only be on equator.
>
> so, the question is,
>
> How did the Wise Men navigate using a star to get to Middle East,
> Israel, Bethlehem, then manger  ?
>
>   they must have had the location, astrolabe, and timepiece?... or map
> with route.
>
> or was it a moving star ?

Clearly it wasn't something in geosynchronous orbit.

If there was a real bright object (nova, say) more or less stationary 
relative to the fixed stars, then following it may have meant going in 
the direction in which it rose (or fell) with the turn of the Earth.

Or it may have been an ephemeral object like a meteor, and the men just 
continued in the direction it had appeared.

It all see seems rather far fetched. More likely, it didn't exist at 
all, and is just an embellishment of the story.

Sylvia.

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How do you follow a star? john <johnsefton288@gmail.com> - 2016-12-24 16:05 -0800
  Re: How do you follow a star? moroney@world.std.spaamtrap.com (Michael Moroney) - 2016-12-25 05:57 +0000
  Re: How do you follow a star? pnalsing@gmail.com - 2016-12-24 22:08 -0800
  Re: How do you follow a star? Yuri Kreaton <invlaid@invalid.com> - 2016-12-25 08:12 -0600
    Re: How do you follow a star? Yuri Kreaton <invlaid@invalid.com> - 2016-12-25 12:54 -0600
      Re: How do you follow a star? john <johnsefton288@gmail.com> - 2016-12-25 10:59 -0800
        Re: How do you follow a star? Yuri Kreaton <invlaid@invalid.com> - 2016-12-25 13:20 -0600
          Re: How do you follow a star? Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-12-26 11:40 +1100
            Re: How do you follow a star? john <johnsefton288@gmail.com> - 2016-12-25 20:03 -0800
              Re: How do you follow a star? Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-12-26 16:08 +1100
                Re: How do you follow a star? Yuri Kreaton <invlaid@invalid.com> - 2016-12-26 00:08 -0600
                Re: How do you follow a star? Sylvia Else <sylvia@not.at.this.address> - 2016-12-26 23:06 +1100

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