NavList:

   

Reply

Dear Frank,
First let me say that I greatly appreciate the responses to my question.  I 
stand in awe of the experience, education, and knowledge represented by the 
Navlist contributors.  As I indicated to you over a year ago, I’ve been 
afraid to ask any of my elementary questions given the complexity of the 
questions usually asked on the Navlist for fear that I would not be capable 
of understanding the answers.  
Regarding your question, I have decided to be one of the instructors for our 
United States Power Squadron’s Junior Navigation class; more precisely, I 
have been permitted to be one of three instructors.  I was a student in this 
class back in 2009 and thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  
I am familiar with the typical methodology for calculating the meridian 
transit; but, I did  needed a memory jog for the method utilizing the rough 
but helpful daily pages ‘hint’ located on the far right, bottom of the daily 
pages.       
The reality for our class is that our sights require time to the nearest 
second.   I note that Peter Hakel has offered a helpful Excel tool for 
solving the problem quickly but I don’t know how to make it work?  I also am 
curious what the source is for the ephemerides used in the Excel program.  
The “Navigators” in our National Office who will be grading the students 
‘sight book’ tell us that their evaluation of the handwritten sight 
reductions will require that the data be taken from the Nautical Almanac as 
copyrighted with the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office i.e., The Nautical 
Almanac(s) 2015-2016. 
Best regards,
Steve
PS, We did actually take sights on 27 September.

-----Original Message-----
From: NavList@fer3.com [mailto:NavList@fer3.com] On Behalf Of Frank Reed
Sent: Saturday, October 10, 2015 3:52 PM
To: steveebryant@att.net
Subject: [NavList] Re: Meridian Transit of the Sun and Daily Pages

Hey Steve, how about a little context? Why are you using the *Nautical 
Almanac* for this task? As an exercise, a textbook puzzle (nothing wrong with 
that, if that's the reason)? If you really need to know when local noon 
occurred on that date for some practical reason, then why? The application 
helps decide the approach. There are many tools well-suited to this task that 
are far easier to use. And what kind of accuracy do you need? Nearest minute? 
Nearest second? Again *why*? What's your goal?
Frank Reed

[PLAIN TEXT VERSION OF MESSAGE AUTO-GENERATED. ORIGINAL MAY INCLUDE MORE CONTENT]
----------------------------------------------------------------
NavList message boards and member settings: www.fer3.com/NavList Members may 
optionally receive posts by email.
To cancel email delivery, send a message to NoMail[at]fer3.com
----------------------------------------------------------------



: 
http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx/Meridian-Transit-Sun-Daily-Pages-FrankReed-oct-2015-g33023

   

Reply