RE: Re: [FH] FTL, astronomy

I'd have to say your Eiffel tower analogy is very flawed...

A simple, and modern, example is GPS.  Something (relatively) far away,
and 
used every day to predict where on earth (and near Solar system as
well!) 
you are.  I personally have used a GPS unit to determine where I'm
going, 
where I've been, and where the hell I am right now.  They're a 
Hiking/Camper's dream!	No more getting lost for 8 days in a mountain
range 
for me, thank you very much.  Not my fault, rockslides can happen at any

time, for any reason, and I happen to be _lucky_ it didn't happen when I

was crossing through the pass.

AFAIR, Pulsars have individually distinctive revolutions per time unit,
and 
with over 700 known to us now, you could get a _very_ accurate position 
from almost anywhere.

As to brightness of stars...  How do you know star X is Sirius?  What 
distiguishes it from star Y?  Brightness?  That's like saying the light
in 
front of house X is brighter than the light in front of house Y...  It
does 
depend on where you're at, but if I blind fold you, spin you around,
plunk 
you down in a random point in a subdivision, how're you going to use
light 
brightness to figure out where you are?

Rand.

At 02:59 PM 2/21/02 -0500, you wrote:
>John Leary wandered off topic:
>Navigation well most likey be done by using at least
>three known pulsars to determine location in space.
>Kind of like looking at 'lighthouses' in the stars.
>
>No pulsars close by, are there?  I'd like we'd use nearby bright stars
eg 
>Sirius--the closer they are, the easier it is to judge your exact
position.
>(If you're trying to get the right driveway, you might estimate from
the 
>end of the block--not from the Eiffel Tower, as even though it stands
out 
>well, it's a bit too far away).
>
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