Astronomía náuticaDe la estrella del norte a las distancias lunares

Resumo

The development of nautical astronomy led to the gradual disappearanceof coastal shipping in favor of offshore. This article makes a quick historical tour, with express mention of two of the most important observation instru-ments (the astrolabe and the kamal), in the calculation of the latitude of theplace, as the height of the pole. A tight synthesis is also made of the specialimpact that the appearance of the compass and that of the Portulans had onnavigation. The deserved role of Martín Cortés is also highlighted, who postu-lated before Mercator the convenience of using increasing latitudes in marinecharts. Throughout the text the secular problem of lengths is mentioned seve-ral times, concluding it with an extensive comment on the method of lunardistances to remember the brilliant contribution of the brilliant marine andmathematician José de Mendoza y Ríos.