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> From: "George Huxtable" 

> Comment from George-
>
> Well, if so, that's a bit of a worry. It's an unacceptable discrepancy, of
> 1.1 arc-minute, in the prediction of Polaris' declination! My own pocket
> calculator gives for 1 May 07, 89 deg 17.7', which is close enough to the
> Nautical almanac figure that Bill gives of 89 deg 17.8'.

Agreed. Checked and triple checked, those are the numbers on the site.  As
always, jump into cyberspace and determine if there is the oft-present typo
in my post.  Omar is either brilliant and out of step with common thought,
or wrong by common wisdom. The errors in the Star Finder numbers can be
traced back to the values in his almanac (please check).  Hence my warning.
I wish I could be more specific, but given my random use, I find it hit or
miss vs. the N.A.

If I recall, there was a caution years ago about a site that was currently
accurate, but historically in error.  I cannot recall if Omar's site was the
subject.
>
> So what's the origin of that erroneous declination of 89 deg 16.7' in the
> Omar Reis program, I wonder? It seems too big to have come from neglecting
> aberration, which can only shift Polaris dec from its mid-value by about
> 0.3' or so, either way; not even when nutation is added. Is there something
> wrong with its allowance for pression, perhaps? I ask Bill to double-check,
> please, to make sure that he is comparing predictions for the same year. If
> Polaris is indeed that far out, can any predictions from that site be
> trusted, for precise work? I wonder if others have comments about that.

Same year, same month, same star. I can only dream of playing on the level
you work on.  I've no explanation for how an almanac and program I cannot
even fathom authoring is off by that amount.

CYA

On a personal/legal note, as a beginner with a cardboard sextant and 229
tables Omar's site was both free and a sanity check.  God bless.  For all
practical small craft cel nav purposes his software is a bargain and equal
to the task in real-world situations.  I have no cause to disrespect his
work product.  I would caution for precise usage, cross checking with other
sources would be prudent as always.

Bill


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