Artificial horizon

thingiverse

This "artificial horizon" can be used in cunjunction with a sextant to practise celestial navigation at home. Just print the parts and get hold of a pair of plain window glasses with a thickness of 2 mm and 125 mm * 125 mm length and width (I paid 4 € for both of them at the local glazier). Stick the two sides (they are identical) in the respective holes in the bottom part and fill the bottom with 1 to 2 cm of some fluid. A viscous fluid (motor oil, molasses) might work better, but even water will do. Then insert the two glasses into the guides on the two sides. These windows will stop the wind from messing up the fluid. You can improve wind protection by applying some adhesive tape to cover the remaining gaps. Before you start working with your sextant please ensure that you have the appropriate filters in place, especially if you want to measure the sun. You MUST also take care that there is a filter towards the horizon as you will be looking at the reflection of the object! If your sextant does not provide a filter in the horizon line of sight one possibility is to darken the window glasses of this artificial horizon with appropriate filters. Please be careful! Look for the reflection of the celestial body you want to measure on the fluid and then point your sextant to that reflection. Then bring your object down to this reflection and measure the angle. Subtract the index correction and finally do not forget to DIVIDE THE ANGLE BY 2 as you measured between object and reflection and not object and horizon. Once you are finished, just take out the glasses and the two sides and store all parts in the bottom part. They fit in quite nicely. Enjoy and help keeping this wonderful art of navigation alive! Print Settings Printer: BQ Hephestos Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.3 mm Infill: 15% Notes: Printed with PLA on a heated bed. Printer must support a width of 20 cm.