NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
3-Star Fix - "Canned Survival Problem"
From: Greg R_
Date: 2008 Jun 9, 16:10 -0700
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From: Greg R_
Date: 2008 Jun 9, 16:10 -0700
While out for one of those legendary "3-hour
cruises" (for our non-USA audience, a reference to a 60s TV show) on Sunday
afternoon June 08, 2008, our intrepid navigator's boat was attacked by a pod of marauding killer whales (they were no doubt
either jealous of the superior on-board navigation equipment, or just hungry
enough that fiberglass looked like a tasty meal).
Before abandoning the sinking boat, s/he had
the presence of mind to grab the sextant, the navigation books and plotting
tools, and the last DR position (34° 13' N / 119°
19' W) - but alas, the navigation computer and calculators were all lost at
sea.
S/he now finds him/herself washed up on an
unknown shore, and with night rapidly
approaching (and a horde of hungry mosquitoes circling ominously), s/he
now needs to find out exactly where s/he is in
order to call for rescue (or at least get directions to where s/he can find a
hot meal and/or decent libations).
Soon after the sun faded in the western sky, the
following sights were taken:
20:42:10 Vega 24° 05.5'
20:43:38 Spica 44° 10.6'
21:00:50 Pollux 21°
15.5'
(at which point the intrepid navigator had to
stop taking sights and fight off the horde of marauding
mosquitoes).
Height of the eye is estimated to be 20' above
the water, index error = 0.0', ZD = +7. Assume standard atmospheric conditions (the barometer and thermometer were
also lost at sea).
Send help, those mosquitoes sound really
hungry... ;-)
--
GregR
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Navigation List archive: www.fer3.com/arc
To post, email NavList@fer3.com
To , email NavList-@fer3.com
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