NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Accuracy of sextant observations at sea
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Sep 23, 16:15 +0100
From: George Huxtable
Date: 2010 Sep 23, 16:15 +0100
John Brown offereed this following useful comment, about Gary's recent
posting.
Subject: [NavList] Re: Accuracy of sextant observations at sea
These seem to be very good results. My 1963 edition of Burton's Tables has
this to say in the first paragraph of the Notes:
"An extensive investigation into the degree of accuracy normally obtained
in the practice of astronomical position-finding at sea has indicated that
the average inaccuracy in a position line produced by the average observer
is 0'.7, and that one in twenty such position lines may be as much as 3'.0
in error."
======================
I saw that Burton's tables offers this footnote, about that comment.-
See "The accuracy of Astronomical Observations at Sea", Journal of the
Institute of Navigation, vol X, No 3, July 1957.
It's the report of a working party, chaired by Don Sabler, who headed the
Almanac Office. They sent out thousands of questionnaires to navigators,
and analysed the answers that came back.
It adds up to 26 pages, but only 1.4 MB in a .pdf file. If you find it of
interest, here it is, attached..
George
contact George Huxtable, at george{at}hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
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