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?

  • Onno (VK6FLAB)
    link
    211 hours ago

    Yeah, in the unedited version of my reply, the asterisk wasn’t detected as part of the URL which lands you at Sag A, not Sag A*.