🔍 Key Concepts

• Star selection for a 3-star fix (good spread in azimuth, suitable altitudes, bright magnitudes) • Using approximate altitude = 90° − |Lat − Dec| to judge if a star will be too high or too low • Effect of declination and hour angle on where a star appears in your sky at a given latitude and time

💭 Think About

• At latitude 35° N, which stars in each group are likely to be very high overhead (near the zenith) or very low near the horizon based on their declinations? • Looking at each group, which set of three gives you the best spread around the horizon (not all bunched in one quadrant of the sky)? • Which group uses mainly 1st‑magnitude stars, and avoids mixing in noticeably dimmer stars that are harder to observe at evening twilight?

✅ Before You Answer

• For each choice, mentally estimate altitude using the star’s declination and your latitude; avoid stars that would be >75° or <15° above the horizon at star time • Check whether the three stars in a choice are roughly 40°–120° apart in azimuth from each other rather than lying on the same general bearing • Verify that most stars in the group are bright (about 1st magnitude) to make sights easier and more precise in twilight conditions