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Dear List,

I think that the article cited by Trevor is not really suitable as an
introduction to lunars. It was written by the staff of HM Almanac Office on
the occasion of two centuries of Nautical Almanacs. It presents an
"objective assessment of the method of determining longitude by the
measurement of lunar distances, in terms of modern knowledge, outlook,
notation and computing facilities." [taken from introduction to the
article]. There are appended tables of precomputed lunar distances for feb
and aug of 1967 and an example calculation. The article also includes a
discussion of verious other methods of longitude determination that you may
find interesting.

However, I have to stress that the lunar distances appended already include
semidiameters. This simplifies the calculations a bit but it makes their
method and computation harder to compare. It is different from the
classical text-books.

_Steven.


-----------------------------------------------------------
Steven Wepster                          wepster@math.uu.nl
                                        tel +31 30 253 1186
Mathematisch Instituut
Universiteit Utrecht
PO Box 80.010
3508 TA Utrecht
The Netherlands
===========================================================


>There is also the paper "A Modern View of Lunar Distances" published in
>the Journal of the Institute of Navigation in 1966. (It is pages 131 to
>153 of volume 19). I copied it years ago but have never read it.
>However, I can confirm that it includes a technical explanation
>(peppered with equations), sufficient tables to allow for the clearing
>of lunar distances with the data from the Nautical Almanac of the late
>1960s (which for all I know may have had data missing from more recent
>editions), and a worked example.
>
>
>Trevor Kenchington
>
>
>--
>Trevor J. Kenchington PhD                         Gadus@iStar.ca
>Gadus Associates,                                 Office(902) 889-9250
>R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour,                     Fax   (902) 889-9251
>Nova Scotia  B0J 2L0, CANADA                      Home  (902) 889-3555
>
>                    Science Serving the Fisheries
>                     http://home.istar.ca/~gadus

   

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