The economic star you need to look for
Thousands of years ago, Polynesian explorers using basic, wooden outrigger canoes embarked on long-distance voyages across the vast Pacific Ocean to travel between regional islands.
They did so long before the advent of any maritime navigational instruments, relying heavily on the night sky to guide them.
More precisely, they used two stars in particular – Polaris and Polaris Australis.
Why these stars? Both are bright, and both are polar stars. Because they’re respectively aligned to the North and South Poles, the Polynesians effectively had fixed points in the stars to help triangulate their nautical positions and navigate to different islands.
