[ audio ]

[airskate]

This is Shadow.

[ No description of his vehicle this time. ]

First, does anyone recognize any of the stars or constellations?

Second, does anyone know the best way to record the ones that aren't familiar?

If we're thorough enough, we might be able to use the stars to navigate.


( OOC: I asked the mods about the stars here if you'd like more info! )

Comments

voice;

[justiceobjects]

[Now this is something Apollo is familiar with, one of the perks of having an astronaut for a best friend.]

Like the others have said, everything here is just totally wrong for Earth. Even if we come from different hemispheres, it should all be the same stars, just flipped around.

Making a star chart is a nice idea. We'd have to cover a lot of ground before the stars start to change.

[airskate]

[ Oh, this is interesting. It sounds like Apollo's knowledge is more than just theoretical here. ]

How much ground?

[ Hold on, he can be more specific. ]

If we were to start making one tonight, how many days of traveling before we wouldn't be able to use it?

[justiceobjects]

Well, uh... we'd have to have an idea of where we started on the planet first. And do we even know what direction we're driving in?

[Besides, Apollo has never been on a road trip before this one. He has no idea how long it would take to drive through an entire hemisphere - and wouldn't it depend on the size of the planet, too?]

I think any star charts would stay useful for quite a while. If we were on Earth, you could navigate in a couple of ways - it's either following the northern or southern pole stars, or watching to see if the stars are moving with you or against you as the planet turns.

[airskate]

[ Even if Apollo can't give him a definitive answer, this all extremely useful to know. Shadow's actually taking physical notes at this point. ]

The thing about the stars turning—what would that indicate?

[ He already knows how someone can orient themself using the sun, but this information about the stars is new to him. ]

[justiceobjects]

Well that's the direction the planet is turning. Using Earth as an example, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west because the planet is rotating in the opposite direction.

So that means the stars and constellations that move in the sky are also moving from east to west in the same way. If you see a star rising, or if you're walking opposite to the movement of the stars, you're going east. If you see a star setting or you're walking with the stars, you're going west.

So that means any stars that don't move are located at the poles, and that's how you can find north and south.

[airskate]

[ Okay, that all makes sense. The bit about the poles is something new, however. Shadow probably could have put it together eventually, but it's obviously more useful to have Apollo tell him directly. ]

Understood. So perfectly stationary stars would be most useful, right? What about ones that do move, but not as much?

[justiceobjects]

That's right. As long as the poles are the same here as they are on Earth, we should be traveling towards one of those stationary stars.

I'm pretty sure the ones that barely move are going to be between the cardinal directions. That would be your northeast or southwest, for instance.

[airskate]

[ There is an actual sound of pen scratching over paper for a moment. ]

And if a star is brighter than all of the others, does that tell us anything helpful?

[justiceobjects]

Not when it comes to navigation. Brighter stars are closer to the planet, or might be brighter depending on size or temperature.

[airskate]

[ Dang. He scratches that off his list. But Apollo sure knows a lot, doesn't he? ]

Are you an astronomer?

[justiceobjects]

No... my best friend studied astronomy. He was in training to be an astronaut. We went stargazing a lot before we both went off to college.

[airskate]

[ Oh, huh. That was something Shadow wasn't quite expected. ]

... I learned from my friend, too. She wasn't studying to be an astronaut, but she still knew a little.

[justiceobjects]

All good memories, I hope.

I don't know about you, but there was something comforting about the stars always being the same.

[airskate]

They are.

[ Not every memory involving Maria is a good one—but those memories, when they laid out under the night sky and watched the stars turn overhead, were all good ones. ]

I think there is, too. Even when the star dies, its light will continue to reach earth for years.