NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Latitude by Lunar Distance
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2006 Oct 5, 23:15 -0400
From: Fred Hebard
Date: 2006 Oct 5, 23:15 -0400
On Oct 5, 2006, at 11:01 PM, Frank Reed wrote: > > "Now it is hard for me to believe that one can > measure distances with 0.1 or even 0.2 accuracy > permanently and reliably" > > Sure you can! :-) > I have seen amateurs get 0.1 minute accuracy in lunars on the very > first try. It's about the sextant more than anything else. Myself, I > find a typical error of 0.2 minutes of arc, and if I shoot four and > average them, that yields 0.1 minutes of arc accuracy, again and > again. > Of course, every once in a while my eyes will water or my hands will > shake, and then it's as much as ten times worse. Frank, I'd like to believe you, but show us the data. Alex has very fine data and a good sextant. I've done OK, but not 0.1'. Jan Kalivoda reported a few years ago on some data collected from a German steam ship around 1875. The standard error was around 0.25', as I recall. Fred --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ To post to this group, send email to NavList@fer3.com To , send email to NavList-@fer3.com -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
