If you were the boss of a group of intergalactic explorers, what would you use as the "North" on the space compasses? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 3 months ago by CraigOhMyEggo@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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On Earth, the cardinal directions are straightforward. The arrow on a compass points to the nearest magnetic pole. You can then use it to travel anywhere on Earth.

In space, the idea of anything being "central" enough to be used as a "North" (since the universe has no center) or being fixated enough to not somehow pose issues is more convoluted.

If you were a pioneer of space exploration, what would your "North" be?

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[-] mo_lave@reddthat.com 18 points 3 months ago

Center of gravity of the galactic cluster/supercluster

[-] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

Works very well until you're moving between superclusters, at which point the universe becomes homogeneous (as far as is known). At that point you probably just need to set an arbitrary origin for your system of coordinates.

this post was submitted on 23 Sep 2024

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