GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW) | ||||||
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14:12 Oct 7, 2011 |
French to English translations [PRO] Science - Astronomy & Space / GPS | |||||||
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| Selected response from: Bashiqa France Local time: 12:23 | ||||||
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Summary of answers provided | ||||
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4 +1 | NOT ascertaining the coordinates of stars |
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4 | the shooting of stars |
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3 | star plotting |
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2 +1 | star tracking |
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3 | through (visual) identification of the stars |
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the shooting of stars Explanation: what is meant is celestial navigation based on the shooting of stars, i.e. determining the angle between the star and the horizon, allowing fairly accurate global positioning |
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star plotting Explanation: * |
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star tracking Explanation: Suggestion.. |
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NOT ascertaining the coordinates of stars Explanation: That's Point 1. Point 2: The translation will depend how far back you consider longtemps goes. People have been navigating with a reasonable degree of accuracy for centuries, if not longer. If we go further back, they might have been able to navigate no better than with reference to the North Star. On a clear night, even I could walk consistently north or east or west or, looking backwards from time to time, south, but I would hardly call that navigation by the stars. Similarly, if I can see the North Star, I know I'm somewhere in the northern hemisphere; if I can see the Southern Cross (more difficult to navigate by), I know I'm south of the equator. But that's as far as it goes. I'm sure a serious astronomer transported to a mystery location could figure out pretty well what part of the world he is in though, and navigate his way back home. The French, with initiés in the plural referring to systèmes does suggest something somewhat involved, though I would not be sure this is deliberate. I'd turn the sentence round a bit and keep it general/long-yeared: Geolocation systems, whose roots, lying in identification of known stars, go back beyond time immemorial, are evolving rapidly. |
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grâce au repérage des astres through (visual) identification of the stars Explanation: My interpretation is that this is contrasting those in a time who relied more on their knowledge of the inner science of astronomy , moreso visually, than via technology of nowadays |
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