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David,

Thanks for your feedback.

Hopefully you did not get too muddy boots then.

Should I confess that through carefully scrutinizing Google Map, I could spot in the muddy ground the prints left by the actual tripod feet used by the Photographer. Easy then afterwards to work everything backwards, pretending it to be pure and intense math ...

Anyway, interesting exercise. Thanks again to you Frank.

And as regards, David, your own determination around 21:00 UT on Dec 10th, 2023, then 32 days later - i.e. on my assumed Jan 11th, 2024 date - it boils down to about (21:00 - 2:06) UT = 18:54 UT on Jan 11, 2024

Mulling over my solution once it had been published, I kept feeling that the "Position Angle" at 63° did indicate a UT value (at 18:18) probably a bit early because the Betelgeuse height does not really "fit" with the picture at that time - albeit a significantly distorted picture (see previous recent Pacific studies) - implying then an "unreasonably" tilted horizon. I would have rather "settled" maybe for something like 18:30 UT on Jan 11, 2024 (or 20:36 UT on Dec 10th 2023) with GHA Aries close to 28°27' on both dates then.

If so, the Rigel data would yield Azimuth at 128.8° (vs initial 126.1°) to match even more closely your own determination at 129°.

I was not overly concerned with the Azimuth though ... since both 128.8° and 126.1° keep cornering us in the very same paddock.

One immediate cue : given the magic alignment of Frank's 3 belt stars, Orion had to be close to the South East and that was immediately caught on the picture. Thanks again to you Frank.

What came as a pleasant surprise to me is certainly my distance determination. Both our radial distances differ by about 20 m on the ground, and assuming your value to be the benchmark, then this 20 m distance falls well within my "wet finger" 1 sigma error at +/- 35m.

Best Lighthouse regards, with actually its exotic local pronunciation indeed, while on the other hand the old spelling actually was much less exotic : " Haisborough Lighthouse in 1888 ".

Kermit