On Sat, 9 Jan 1999, Philip P. Pappas, II wrote: > > I guess all of this is acedemic because unless you are a good astronomer > how would you know when polaris is on the meridian and when it is safe to > use it to set a sundial. >
The leftmost star of the w-shaped constellation, Cassiopeia, is almost on the same hour circle as Polaris so if it is directly above or below Polaris then Polaris indicates close enough to due north. Of course, if it's below Polaris then it's the rightmost star of the m-shaped Cassiopeia. jh
