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Nocturnal Geocoin

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Owner:
retroforce Send Message to Owner Message this owner
Released:
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Origin:
Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany
Recently Spotted:
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About This Item

This is a functional nocturnal coin which you can actually use to tell time during the night and get your latitudinal deviation.

The nocturnal navigational tool stood the test of time. Its purpose is to tell time at night so you can gain a more accurate latitude and longitude reading. The first written evidence of a nocturnal was discovered in the year 1272. It was refined in the 1500s to tell more accurate time and was used well in to the late 1800s and partially used into the early 1900s. Two disadvantages of the Nocturnal is it can only be used at night, and only when the pole star Polaris and either of the dippers are visible. However, it also had a great advantage since it can be used at night when a sundial could not be used. The nocturnal can only be used in the northern hemisphere unless you know how to triangulate the southern axis point, but the deviation scales can only be used in the Northern Hemisphere. Using a nocturnal in conjunction with a quadrant will yield a more accurate latitude reading. The use of a planisphere is most helpful to find the correct stars to use.

Even though mechanical clocks have been around for several centuries, they could not keep accurate time on a ship that is pitching and rolling on the ocean waves. When an accurate chronometer good enough to be used at sea was invented and after it was able to be massed produced is when the nocturnal finally became obsolete.

More sophisticated nocturnals also listed tide charts and deviation gauges on its surfaces.

Tracking History (27.6mi) View Map

Discovered It 8/29/2011 SpoonThomas discovered it   Visit Log

beim "Meet&Greet" gesehen,
ein Danke dafür

Visited 8/28/2011 retroforce took it to Treffpunkt Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - 13.98 miles  Visit Log
Discovered It 8/27/2011 Theopoint discovered it   Visit Log

Discovered Nocturnal Geocoin at the GEOCOINFEST 2011 - EUROPA in Köln. Thx, Theopoint

Discovered It 8/27/2011 Xenofon discovered it   Visit Log

During the 3 days at the Geoinfest event in Keulen, all types of geocoins discovered together with the teams Theopoint, Theapoint and Bluelagoon from the Netherlands.
Georegards Xenofon.

Discovered It 8/27/2011 witre.o discovered it   Visit Log

Wij hebben tijdens dit coinevent heel veel mooie coin en TB`s gezien waaronder deze.
bedankt voor deze
witre.o

Visited 8/27/2011 retroforce took it to GCF 2011 EU - Meet & Greet Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - .02 miles  Visit Log
Visited 8/27/2011 retroforce took it to Kölnopoly - Elektrizitätswerk Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - 4.42 miles  Visit Log
Visited 8/27/2011 retroforce took it to Kölle putzt sich raus, fürs Geocoinfest EUROPE Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - 2.41 miles  Visit Log
Visited 8/26/2011 retroforce took it to GCF 2011 EU - Welcome Event - Begrüßungsevent Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - 17.36 miles  Visit Log
Visited 8/26/2011 retroforce took it to Birthday Bash Super Cache reloaded Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany - 17.31 miles  Visit Log
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