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George said,
�But a sextant with lots of electronics attached: wouldn't that be getting
the worst of both worlds? The most satisfying aspects of a sextant are its
precision and its basic SIMPLICITY.�

Don�t forget George, that some of us still practice navigation with the
sextant and a night vision star scope is an interesting idea. Its failure
would in no way diminish the usefulness of the sextant because you can
switch scopes at any time and its use might extend the utility of the
sextant quite a bit. I for one am interested in seeing where this discussion
goes.
Robert Gainer


>From: george huxtable 
>Reply-To: Navigation Mailing List 
>To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM
>Subject: Re: Night Vision Scopes
>Date: Sat, 25 Jun 2005 20:36:55 +0100
>
>Robert Eno wrote-
>
>
>>Has anyone used a night vision scope for conducting star sights at
>>sea?  The idea intrigues me and in theory it sounds like it would work,
>>but I do not know anyone who has actually used one at sea.
>
>An interesting question. Presumably you would use it in place of the
>telescope, to show up both star and horizon. Otherwise, how well would the
>sight-line of such a night scope be defined? And how would you check for
>index error?. I only ask, because I am quite unfamiliar with such
>instruments.
>
>Could a digital camera be used for the same purpose? Amateur astronomers
>use quite ordinary arrays for looking at stars.
>
>I think one of the difficulties would be the fast motion of the images with
>respect to the screen as the vessel wobbled underfoot. The human eye is
>good at assessing the relative positioning of star and horizon, even while
>they are whistling across his field of view. An electronic screen could
>find that job to be more difficult. Perhaps some image stabilisation would
>be needed also.
>
>But a sextant with lots of electronics attached: wouldn't that be getting
>the worst of both worlds? The most satisfying aspects of a sextant are its
>precision and its basic SIMPLICITY.
>
>George.
>===============================================================
>Contact George at george@huxtable.u-net.com ,or by phone +44 1865 820222,
>or from within UK 01865 820222.
>Or by post- George Huxtable, 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13
>5HX, UK.

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