08-15-2017, 06:23 PM
"Hence their endeavors were not investigative and explorative but memorization and using that memory map in direction finding (navigation), IMO. Am I still wrong?"
You're not wrong, but understanding where the stars would appear over the entire year was rather important to navigation, and hence exploration, especially of the ocean. The position of stars has also been and still is, a very important part of astronomy. It's called astrometry. Telescopes on Mauna Kea still do this including UKIRT.
You're not wrong, but understanding where the stars would appear over the entire year was rather important to navigation, and hence exploration, especially of the ocean. The position of stars has also been and still is, a very important part of astronomy. It's called astrometry. Telescopes on Mauna Kea still do this including UKIRT.