Submitted by Anonymous on Wed, 12/10/2008 - 07:13
Forums
Oden Antarctic Expedition 08

Hello...we are students in Miss Crowley's class.  We are looking forward to meeting with you through Webinar on Monday.  Have you had a chance to check out the compass in Antarctica?

Sun, 12/14/2008 - 18:45

Jeff Peneston

Miss Crowley’s class!
First, I am sorry that it has taken me so long to reply to your question but here goes.
I was looking forward to conducting your experiment for you, however…I tried repeatedly to view the southern stars during the first week at sea but I only saw patches of sky through the clouds at night.  Now, we have not had darkness for over a week as the sun never gets below the horizon in the Antarctic summer.
However, I did talk to Ivan, one of the Oden’s officers about this and he showed me the ship’s compass (which they hardly ever use).  The compass was aligned with magnetic North and South but it was very different than the true North-South lines of longitude.  For example, right now the magnetic compass says the ship is heading 191? away from North but the actual heading of the ship is 257?.  We know the actual heading by using a Gyro compass and satellite tracking systems.  So… right now, in the Amundsen Sea, about 200 miles from the coast of Antarctica at Lat.  71° 04.42'S   Long. 110° 30.59'W,  the magnetic compass is off by 66?!!
I hope that is a useful answer for you and I hope your class gets to participate in my live webinar on Monday.
Take care, and keep reading my journals,
Jeff