NavList:

Gentlemen,

I was standing on my deck, admiring the moon tonight when I decided to shoot some lunars. A quick check with Stellarium yielded Hamal as the only candidate given my location. I brought my Astra out onto the deck and shot a few. Results (calculated with Frank's website) were as follows:

• 2014 August 11
• Hamal-Moon (near limb) Lunars
• AP: N37°03.3', W076°28.6'; ~46ft.
• Temp.: 70°F, Press.: 30.10 inHg
• Index Error: 1.7' on the arc

__GMT_______LDs_____Error__

06:32:44.....71°44.2'.....-1.2'

06:34:05.....71°45.2'.....+0.3'

06:36:27.....71°44.6'.....+0.8'

06:37:31.....71°43.7'.....+0.4'

06:38:40.....71°43.4'.....+0.6'

06:40:03.....71°43.9'.....+1.7'

___________________________

Before I calculated anything, I graphed the sights and roughed a line through them. I ignored the first and last sights as I suspected them to be outliers. I picked a time of 06:37:00 as being about the middle of the group and drew a horizontal crossing the line at that point. I used the resulting altitude of 71°44.2' and got an error of +0.7' (19.8' of longitude). I've been pretty busy with work lately and haven't had time to practice, so I'm satisfied with that...for now.

While I was getting set up, checking index error and such, I saw a fantastic meteor streak just below the star Algol (β Persei) at about 06:29:42; altitude ~35°, azimuth ~68°T. And, of course, the moon was "super". ;) All in all, a very pleasant night.

-Sean C.