10-31-2022, 06:50 AM
(10-30-2022, 11:39 AM)iquetzal Wrote: Any decent map of the milky way galaxy is accurate only from earth's unique position within it. As your distance from earth increases by light years, the galactic map based upon the paths light took to reach earth becomes progressively and randomly more imprecise. [...]
Yes, you are essentially agreeing with my points, which is why I'm puzzled you think Polynesian wayfaring would help. Do you also agree that if you have one agreed-upon reference point, e.g., the Earth, then you can create a 3-D map that can be used for interstellar navigation no matter where you are coming from; all you need to know is the Earth's position plus the coordinates, distances and proper motions of stars from that reference point and you can produce a map that works well enough for navigation in the past, present and future. The rest is, computationally, not that hard, just CPU-intensive.