NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Robert H. van Gent
Date: 2020 Dec 28, 17:36 +0000
η Argûs?
This star, now better known as Eta Carinae, indeed has no Hipparcos number but it does have a Tycho number (8626-2809-1) and was particularly bright in the 1840s.
http://simbad.u-strasbg.fr/simbad/sim-id?Ident=Eta+Carinae
Rob van Gent
From: NavList@fer3.com <NavList@fer3.com>
On Behalf Of Frank Reed
Sent: Mon 28 December 2020 0:00
To: Gent, R.H. van (Rob) <R.H.vanGent@uu.nl>
Subject: [NavList] Obscure Nautical Almanac star
There's a star listed in the British Nautical Almanac
† for 1919 which is not found in modern resources. For example, it is
not found in Stellarium. And it has no Hipparcos catalog ID number. Two hints: 1) it cannot be seen from New England. 2) It was most
certainly seen by the crew of the New England whaleship Charles W. Morgan on its first whaling voyage to the Pacific Ocean in 1841 to 1845.
Frank Reed
† Note: the British Nautical Almanac at this time was not
The Nautical Almanac (the astronomers' ephemeris) but rather
The Abridged Nautical Almanac, which by this
date had become an entirely separate resource. That's what navigators used.
