Where or how do I locate a map showing the earth and sky locations of
11.11 degrees longitude and 14.14 degrees latitude and vice versa?

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Request for Question Clarification by byrd-ga on 15 Sep 2003 13:34 PDT

Hello Vicky7,

What do you mean by sky locations?  Are you looking for aeronautical
waypoints?  Usually lat/long coordinates are the same for ground/water
or aeronautical locations.  Or perhaps you are interested in a named
aeronautical intersection (if there is one), located at that waypoint?

Also, do you want N or S latitude, and E or W longitude for those
coordinates?

Thanks,
Byrd

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Clarification of Question by vicky7-ga on 15 Sep 2003 16:18 PDT

Howdy byrd-ga:  Great clarification question, and unfortunately I do
not have the answer.  These numbers have appeared to me numerous times
the past two weeks and I am attempting to find out if they have a
specific correlation to a specific point somewhere in the universe. 
So I guess maybe 50 smackers may not be enough! (big smiley face
here!)  So I guess I am looking for anything at all. Hope this helps,
if not give me a holler or what is it called in the grid.  I am new to
this, only on line about a month! Many thanks!
Vicky7-ga

Hi Vicky

          Here is an explanation of the

     Latitude and Longitude :    

  The universe is represented by two spheres, 

 1) the surface of the Earth and
 2) the sky    - the celestial sphere
   
          The spheres rotate, once a day , and the axis of the
relative rotation rocks up and down once a year.

   Here is a picture of  the two:

             http://www.uccs.edu/~tchriste/courses/PES105/105lectures/105lecobserv.html

    Here is what it looks like when you watch the stars from Earth for
several hours:
            http://www.opencourse.info/astronomy/introduction/02.motion_stars_sun/

      Each sphere has coordinates -
 meaning that each point is labeled by two numbers.     

  These are the polar coordinates on a sphere.   
 
 It is easier first get polar coordinates in a plane:  
                 
circle:
  http://www.lhs.logan.k12.ut.us/~rweeks/trig/polar.htm   

Then your progress to the space:   

sphere:   

        http://www.krysstal.com/coordsystems.html
         
 So,In summary:

 we have 

          celestial coordinates:     co-latitude, and declination  
          earthly coordinates: latitude and longitude     

 Each point in universe is labeled by both pairs of coordinates.
 The points attached to Earth, like London, have the same Earth
coordinates
 The points attached to the sky, like Sun, have the same Celestial
coordinates
  But Earth coordinates of the celestial points do change with time.
   


here is the      The Earth's geographic coordinate system  and    
 CELESTIAL SPHERE , compared:
                                   
  http://lyra.colorado.edu/sbo/astroinfo/coords/coordinates.html


 This is how NASA explains that   

      " On Earth, the equator is divided into 360 degrees, with the
zero meridian
 passing Greenwich and with the longitude angle f measured east or
west of Greenwich
, depending on where the corresponding meridian meets the equator.


     In the sky, the equator is also divided into 360 degrees, but the
count begins
 at one of the two points where the equator cuts the ecliptic--the one
which the
Sun reaches around March 21. It is  called the vernal equinox 
("vernal" means related to spring) or sometimes the
 first point in Aries, because in ancient times, when first observed
by the
 Greeks, it was in the zodiac constellation of Aries .."

 http://www-istp.gsfc.nasa.gov/stargaze/Slatlong.htm

Please do ask for clarification if it is not clear

Search Terms

celestial sphere,
longitude,
Terrestrial Coordinates
polar coordinates

hedgie

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Request for Answer Clarification by vicky7-ga on 15 Sep 2003 19:11 PDT

HI hedgie-ga.  Wow, thank you so much for the "mini" lesson.. So does
the 11 degrees 11 minutes and 14 degrees 14 minutes fall into any
specific constellation? or earth sphere?

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Clarification of Answer by hedgie-ga on 16 Sep 2003 05:33 PDT

Thank you,Vicky, for the great rating and tip.   

    To find the Earth point at  11 d 11m  and 14d 14m you first 
    need to   convert degrees-minutes  to decimal degrees.

    You will get:

    decimal longitude         11.18333
    decimal latitude           14.23333 

That is explained here 

    www.fcc.gov/mb/audio/bickel/DDDMMSS-decimal.htm
     www.geology.enr.state.nc.us/gis/latlon.html 
etc.
 
   The   longitude/latitude of the  Earth points is shown here  :    

       http://www.travelgis.com/
                                                          
   You will see a bar:

                        Country List | World Large City List | Country
Ranks | Interactive Map

   If you press 'city list' you will see   the  longitude/latitude for
many cities

 When  you press    'Interactive Map'    you will see a  map of the
world.
 Move the mouse over the map and you will see the  long./lat. below
the map.
 When you click on a location, the map will zoom to that location  
  and you can repeat this step to zoom in.

  You will find out that  your particular Earth point is in middle of
the Africa .

    Since   constellations   are attached to the celestial sphere,
 which rotates, different constelation will be above that point
 at different times of the night and day. 

   To see the  constellations above that  earth point, click on: 

    http://www.fourmilab.ch/yoursky/#Skymap

   Then, enter the above data (decimal longitude,latitude) and then
     press "Make Sky Button"

   You will see the sky map with the path marked through
    the constellations which will pass directly above that
    Earth location during the night .       

   Watch out for the plus and minus signs on latitude and longitude!
   Enjoy!

    hedgie

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Clarification of Answer by hedgie-ga on 16 Sep 2003 05:52 PDT

And still another way to look at it is here:

http://www.fourmilab.ch/cgi-bin/uncgi/Earth?lat=14.23&ns=lNorth&lon=11.18&ew=East&alt=35785

You will see Earth from that 'location' (11:11, 14:14)
directly above center of Africa.

Awesome program. this is my first time to use it and will definitely tell all!!
Answer was beyond anything I expected and sure saved me hours!!THANK YOU!!!!

Interesting question, Vicki7.  I'm curious to see where the location is, too!

Best regards,
journalist-ga

"The spheres rotate, once a day , and the axis of the
relative rotation rocks up and down once a year."

The axis does not rock.  It always points toward the north star. 

 "The points attached to the sky, like Sun, have the same Celestial
coordinates"

The sun does not keep the same celestial coordinates.  In the course
of a year, it traces a path against the fixed stars that passes
through all 360 degrees.

It seems to me that to answer the question, it is necessary to
consider 16 locations, 8 on earth, and 8 in the sky.  The 8 on earth
are:

11.11E, 14.14N   (near Goure, Niger)
11.11E, 14.14S   (Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Angola)
11.11W, 14.14N   (near Kayes, Mali)
11.11W, 14.14S   (middle of southern tropical Atlantic)
14.14E, 11.11N   (near Mora, Cameroon)
14.14E, 11.11S   (near Gabela, Angola)
14.14W, 11.11N   (near Boke, Guinea)
14.14W, 11.11S   (middle of southern tropical Atlantic)

The 8 locations in the sky are the same as those on earth, only in
celestial coordinates.  I don't know which stars/constellations are
near these points.

Hi racecar-ga!  Thank you so much for that information!  Googles
answer is such a great tool!  To get this answer by myself probably
would have taken me the rest of my life!!-big smiley face here!!  You
guys have been great to work with and I am extremely grateful!  Too
bad I can't rate this experience higher than 5 stars!!! God Bless to
all!!

racecar,

You must understand that these are just aproximations. All stars, not
just
Sun have additional motions, next to the diuarnal one.
 For other stars it called parallax, for Sun Ecliptic.
 It can be described as rocking, since they move in synchrony,through
the year. Of course, the amplitude is not the same - so it is not an
exact analogy. This is all common knowledge - you read more about that
e.g. here:
http://www.shodor.org/cserd/Resources/Activities/ThreeDConstellations/index.php

On the other hand, your idea of 8+8 points sounds quite original :-)

hedgie

Some approximations are useful.  Some are not.

Useful approximations:

1) The earth is a sphere.
2) It takes 365 days for the earth to go around the sun once.
3) There are 6 billion people in the world.
4) Stars, other than the sun, stay in the same place relative to each
other.

Approximations which are not useful:

1) The sun and the earth are the same size.
2) The sun is the same distance from the earth as the next closest
star.
3) The sun stays in the same place relative to the fixed stars.
4) The axis of relative rotation of the earth and the celestial sphere
rocks up and down once each year.


Otherwise, nice job.  Don't hesitate to ask if you have any other
questions.

Okay, I am really loving you "guys".  I am learning a wealth of
information from this. THANK. Just some food for thought.  When going
into www.fourmilab etc. I entered 1414N and 1111E (abbreviated!) and
the map of the view from the horizon of the constellations is none
other than Polaris - the North Star. I won't bore everyone why I was
looking at these coordinates, but in finding what I did I have had my
proverbial socks blown off!  I can't thank you enough!
God Bless and May Godinstances Always Abound!!

racecar, 
Since This is not usenet, just one question 
for all you commenta,  past and future:

 Is racecar a nickname for the rumored about
Universal arbiter of all truth,
as described here? 
www.ruhanisatsangusa.org/godman/godman_23.htm