NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2012 Sep 14, 15:30 -0400
http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx/Star-Star-Distances-Morris-apr-2010-g12906
2 years ago, I computed an extensive list of star-to-star distances, sorted by distance. The list is uncorrected for refraction, since that is a function of time and geographic location. The list is attached to that email.
The distances ranged from about 4 to 178 degrees.
It was computed such that I could attempt to calibrate the arc of my circle of reflection. Turned out that I could never see any error, which was consistent with the 1905 article which stated that the calibration of this particular circle of reflection was 5 seconds. I selected based upon the appropriate star-to-star distance, corrected for refraction, preset the circle of reflection and observed. The stars always passed thru each other.
It occurs to me that the camera calibration procedure could utilize these distances. Rather than just a few (moon's apparent diameter, sun's apparent diameter and sun's altitude), the star-to-star distances provide a vast range of angles to choose from.
Enjoy.
Brad Morris
I have an old Apple PowerBook G4 and may not be able to use Excel but
others will surely find the spread sheet useful if you can find it.
Greg
Oddly enough it was done on a Power Mac G4 tower in Excel. If you have Excel on your PowerBook it should run just fine--no conversion to .xlsx required.
I'll dig it up and post it later when I finish executing my QE3 strategies.
Bill B.
