Help!!!
I'm in the process of writing an essay on the possibility of a cosmic impact having opened the Drake Passage. In the process of discovery I found 3 other cosmic impacts that happened in the same time frame. I tried to align these 4 locations on a map and they came out in a straight line giving me the impression that they may be part of the same progenitor. As I was getting some help in the layout of my data it was brought to my attention that the straight line was not possible on a globe and that I was tricked by the use of a Mecator map. What kind of a map would give me a picture of my 4 points and the likelihood of their alignment? I'm a rank amatuer at this sort of thing and can use any help I can get. Thanks for your time and expertise.
Plot them on a globe and then stretch a rubber band from first to last. The elasticity will make the rubber band follow a great circle, which is the nearest thing to a straight line on a sphere.
If your four points are aligned along a great circle, they would be in a straight line from a direction into space that is in the plane of the great circle.
Thanks chick. I can see a trip to the library coming soon in my future. Is there any type of map that I can plug my location points onto and print a copy for my essay if they work out?
I think that a stereographic projection will also let you find out if they fit in a straight line or not, since stereographic projections are for angle preservation... Hai-Etlik would be the expert to confirm/deny or expand on what I am saying...
Once you find out where the great circle runs through them, you can plot that great circle on any projection you want. As Pixie says, a stereographic projection works as long as you center the projection on the line. A gnomonic projection also shows great circles as straight lines.Originally Posted by Jim C
http://www.progonos.com/furuti/MapPr.../geodesic.html
You also might consider a photograph of the globe showing the rubber band
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