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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Francis Upchurch
Date: 2015 Nov 24, 22:11 -0800
Does anyone know how easy/hard it is to change Astra B mirrors?
I've got a Whole Horizon on mine,which I've used happily for years, but recently have started to do more Polaris and star shots at dawn (can't sleep, so what to do?). I normally do ok, but I now wonder whether some of my problem "seeing the faint stars" could be due to the WHM, not my ancient eyes,( I eat plenty carrots) and maybe would be solved with a split? I've tried the Davis 3, which interestingly has a "half mirror" with no need for a clear glass half.This however does not have a telescope and so the comparison is not very valid.
I can buy a split mirror for the Astra for about $75, but I would only do so if it is quick and easy to do changes. Has anyone experience of this and could advize?
Keep up all the interesting work. Pearls of wisdom flashing round the globe. Magic or what?
Of course, if someone would kindly buy me my lusted-for classic English sextant with split mirror, job done! (I'll copy this email to some likely family by mistake!). Could anyone recommend a good English Sextant, say 1950s-70s to look out for on ebay?
Best as always
Francis