Legendary Viking Sunstones Did Exist: Viking Sagas Were More Truthful Than We Realized

[mitch96]

4. I saw a facinating program about seafaring navigation

It was called "John Harrison and the Quest for Longitude".
There was a big prize to find Longitude. Harrison completed his first chronometer in 1735 and used it to find longitude and along with knowing your latitude you know where your position on earth is..
To find longitude you can use the the North star if the sky is clear or the Sun at noon.
I use to remember how to do it when I was learning Celestial navigation but I have long since forgot how to do it. I guess thats how the Vikings used the sunstone to find latitude. Shoot the sun was the term the instructor used. Another hobby gone by the wayside.
Fascinating stuff.