Part II: Determining Position Over the Ages

People have been studying the sky from the beginning of time. Through the ages, people have gradually gained an understanding of what they can learn about the earth by studying the sky. Early scientists -- as far back as ancient Greece -- charted the movement of the sun, relative to the earth, and found a way to determine latitude.

Each day the sun rises above the horizon and travels an arced path through the sky, to fall below the horizon again at sunset.

The observed height that the sun reaches at its highest point depends upon the latitude of the observer. This illustration might help you understand:

Person A is standing at the equator. The dotted line represents the horizon Person A would see, because remember, from where we stand on the Earth, the ground looks flat. When the sun reaches its highest point it is directly overhead Person A, or is 90° from the horizon. But at the same time, for Person B standing at a higher latitude (again, a dotted line representing the horizon), the sun would not reach 90°, it would reach a lesser angle.