NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Star Identification
From: Jeremy C
Date: 2008 Jul 30, 11:14 EDT
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From: Jeremy C
Date: 2008 Jul 30, 11:14 EDT
I can't help you with your sextant, but as far as IDing an unknown star,
what is important when taking the sight is not only to get the correct altitude,
but also getting an Azimuth. While few stars are going to be at the same
altitude at a given time, there might be a few close enough to cause confusion
if you don't know the direction you were facing as well.
Star finders are the easiest, as you just dial in the LHA of aries at the
time of sight with the correct disc for your Latitude, but it only works
directly with the major stars, and indirectly with the moon and planets.
If you took a sight of a minor star, it takes a bit more detective work.
The best way is software, but there is a way to do it with an almanac and a
sight reduction book if you want to do it "old school." I find the star
finder methods of HO 214 vastly superior to HO 229, but it can be done with the
latter as well.
JCA
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Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc
To post, email NavList@fer3.com
To , email NavList-@fer3.com
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