Artificial horizon

thingiverse

This "artificial horizon" can be used in conjunction with a sextant to practice celestial navigation at home. Just print the parts and get hold of a pair of plain window glasses, each with a thickness of 2 mm and dimensions of 125 mm by 125 mm. I paid just 4 euros for both at my local glazier's shop. Stick the two sides, which are identical, into their respective holes in the bottom part, then fill the bottom with 1 to 2 cm of some fluid. A viscous fluid like motor oil or molasses works well, but even water will do. Next, insert the two glasses into the guides on the two sides. These windows will keep the wind from disturbing the fluid. To improve wind protection, apply some adhesive tape over any remaining gaps. Before you start working with your sextant, make sure that you have the right filters in place, especially if you want to measure the sun. You must also take care that there is a filter towards the horizon because you will be looking at the reflection of the object! If your sextant doesn't provide a filter for the horizon line of sight, one possibility is to darken the window glasses of this artificial horizon with suitable filters. Be careful! Look for the reflection of the celestial body you want to measure on the fluid and then point your sextant at that reflection. Bring your object down to this reflection and measure the angle. Subtract the index correction and finally don't forget to divide the angle by 2 because you measured between object and reflection, not object and horizon. Once you're finished, simply take out the glasses and sides and store all parts in the bottom part. They fit quite nicely. Enjoy and help keep this wonderful art of navigation alive! Print Settings: Printer: Rafts: No Supports: No Resolution: 0.3 mm Infill: 15% Notes: Printed with PLA on a heated bed. The printer must support a width of 20 cm.