NavList:

Hello George,

I think all your remarks make a lot of sense.

Nonetheless, I really "buy every point" Frank indicated in his last post on this subject, although I should add, and after I have read your last post :

"Yes, let us do all these observations, but only if we have time".

Otherwise, we would use the good old recipe you just mentionned : Morning + Noon + Afternoon.

*******

As regards the frequency of the Astronomical observations, (in the past, I mean : last millenium ...), interestingly enough, in the French Navy we had, weather permitting :

- Morning fix with stars (+ planets and/or Moon), and

- Sun (Mid Morning + Noon) yielding a second fix, and

- Afternoon sights recommended but not a hard rule (only one LOP generally) only for cross checking any trend from the "Sun Noon position", and

- Evening fix with stars (+planets and/or Moon).

In addition to the above, if and when lost (it did happen ...) ANY sight ANY time becomes a priority (then you love it when the Moon Azimut is between 60° and 120° away from the Sun Azimut, but the odds are then that such is the case, you do not need to shoot them),

and/or you may also even have a senior Ensign / young Lieutenant shooting for daylight VENUS LAN's (and even a JUPITER daylight LAN once).

*******

Well, I think that rather than an "operationally oriented" one, Frank's last post is essentially a well detailed "didactic/educational" post, and I appreciate its value on this specific ground.

And no doubt in my mind whatsoever, that if he certainly would like to spend most of his days holding his beloved sextant when at sea, Frank does give due priority to more immediate tasks.

Frank, you certainly must be a GOOD instructor, because I really and definitely enjoyed reading your last post on the very clever way(s) to reduce the size of an ellipse !

I knew about the "paper and clipper" method, but I now know the "n^3/2" method.

:-)))

Best Regards

Antoine M. "Kermit" Couëtte
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