northernbook Chapter 187: 184: Never Stop
Chapter 187: 184: Never Stop
Chapter 187: Chapter 184: Never Stop
The audience hadn’t quite recovered from the recent storm when Bi Fang was set to embark on a journey again, which inevitably raised concerns about whether the migration intensity was too high.
They still vividly remembered the thunder and lightning from a few hours ago, the heavenly majesty too blinding to behold. Under such circumstances, ordinary people wouldn’t dare to step outside, let alone fly an airplane through a storm. Even a tumble dryer wouldn’t spin like that.
[Has Master Fang stopped being human? If so, can you take me with you? I don’t want to be human either.]
[Flying at night, can the geese keep up?]
[Yeah, it’s pitch dark, isn’t that dangerous?]
[In just a few hours, can they rest well?]
“Of course they can. In fact, most of the migration of geese takes place at dusk or at night; it’s just that I chose to do it during the day because that suits human habits,” he explained.
“And don’t underestimate the geese’s resilience and stamina—they are one of the few birds that can fly across the entire Himalayas.”
Bi Fang revved up the engine, and in the darkness of the night, the glider swept through the air like a giant black bird, with eighteen geese neatly aligned behind it.
“Speaking of which, I rarely travel at night, but when it comes to nighttime, you can’t help but mention the starry sky.”
Breathing in the salty, moist air, Bi Fang turned his camera towards the starry field, where the boundless night sky spun overhead.
“Thousands of years ago, our ancestors had already begun using the motion of celestial bodies to determine direction. If you can determine your location through the movement of the sun, moon, and stars, then even without navigational tools, you can still find the right direction,” he said.
[I know this one, find Polaris!]
[There’s also the Big Dipper; I learned this in kindergarten!]
[Ah, isn’t the Big Dipper the same as Polaris…]
[I push open the door and look out—wow, no stars!]
Due to the time of the live stream, the number of viewers had decreased significantly, from over two hundred thousand to around one hundred thousand, yet the barrage of comments was unrelenting, the audience’s enthusiasm undiminished.
Bi Fang estimated it was around nine o’clock in the evening. It would be two in the morning back home, yet so many people were still active?
But nowadays, people really do lack some common knowledge, confusing Polaris with the Big Dipper.
Bi Fang sighed silently, though he could understand. Nowadays, most people live in cities, and at night, the only bright thing in the sky is the moon. Sometimes, when the clouds are thick, they can’t even see the moon, so who would care about the names of invisible stars?
“Don’t be fooled by the similar-sounding names of the Big Dipper and Polaris; they are two different things. First, the number is different. Polaris is the name of a single star, while the Big Dipper consists of seven stars, named for its shape like a ladle, also known as the ‘Big Dipper Seven Stars.’
“Secondly, their functions are different. Polaris can accurately point out true north, while the function of the Big Dipper is to help us locate Polaris. Polaris lies almost directly on the extension line of the two stars at the end of the Big Dipper,” he explained.
Bi Fang looked up at the sky and began to talk about some techniques for finding and recognizing the stars; through his first-person perspective, viewers followed his gaze in
[The fake explorer: proficient in mathematics, physics, geography, climate, and astronomy. The real explorer: survives with blind enthusiasm, leaving teammates to save him.]
The audience’s praise made Bi Fang blush, he also knew this knowledge by chance, and without Étienne’s question, he wouldn’t have remembered it—it wasn’t an intentional display of holiness.
Clearing his throat, Bi Fang steered the conversation back, mentioning other methods of determining direction.
“Aside from Polaris, in the dark canopy of the night sky, we can also use the Orion Constellation to find our bearings. The Orion features four bright stars forming a large quadrilateral, with three smaller stars lined up in its center. We can draw an imaginary horizontal line through these smaller stars as the celestial equator, and this line would then be the east-west direction.”
“Of course, it’s different in the southern hemisphere; the Big Dipper Seven Stars might be hidden below the horizon. I’ll tell you more when I get to the southern hemisphere one day.”
[Southern hemisphere? What’s there?]
[Antarctica, or maybe Australia?]
[Why the secrecy? I’m not convinced!]
“Cough cough, that’s all for now. What will I talk about next?” Bi Fang spread his hands, “But just having a direction isn’t enough. Our route is planned; we’re heading to Denmark, and it wouldn’t do to land in Holland or Copenhagen. So, we have to use the stars not only to determine direction but also to measure latitude and longitude!”