NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Sextant accuracy and possibility of future improvement
From: Philip Lange
Date: 2016 Jul 21, 10:00 -0400
From: Philip Lange
Date: 2016 Jul 21, 10:00 -0400
If it can be mounted as an after-market accessory, Paul, I want
one! Just think - shooting stars anytime they are visible! The
moon or any body with or without a visible horizon. Build it and i
will buy it!
On 07/21/2016 12:33 AM, Paul Dolkas
wrote:
I always thought that the biggest problem with sextants (especially the aircraft bubble type) was the problem of figuring out where horizontal is. So why not replace the liquid bubble with an electronic inclinometer? They are now readily available reading down to sub-second accuracy. It could either be attached to the index mirror for a direct readout of elevation, or attached to the horizontal “base” with a rotary encoder to figure the elevation from there. You sight the star, push the button, and you’re done.