NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: About Lunars, part 3
From: Chuck Griffiths
Date: 2002 Feb 15, 16:44 -0500
From: Chuck Griffiths
Date: 2002 Feb 15, 16:44 -0500
While I was waiting for the Moon to reappear in the evening sky to play around with lunar distances I've been measuring interstellar distances (as is often put forward as a method to check one's sextant for accuracy) for practice. This has raised a couple of questions in my mind. First, the easiest way to deal with refraction when measuring interstellar distances is to use two stars at equal altitudes and not correct for refraction, would this be such a special case when measuring lunar distances that we should forget this as a possibility? Second, does choosing good moon star or moon planet combinations require that we give some thought to the location of the other body relative to the path of the moon? I'm thinking that the optimum second body would be exactly in the path of the moon's track though the sky. I also imagine that if the second body chosen were "abeam" the moon as it passed, the measured lunar distance would change less with time than if the second body were more or less ahead or behind the moon's position but in it's path. Chuck Griffiths ********************************************************************** This e-mail and any files transmitted with it are confidential and may be legally privileged or otherwise exempt from disclosure under applicable law. This e-mail and its files are intended solely for the individual or entity to whom they are addressed and their content is the property of Smiths Aerospace. If you are not the intended recipient, please do not read, copy, use or disclose this communication. If you have received this e-mail in error please notify the e-mail administrator at postmaster@si.com and then delete this e-mail, its files and any copies. This footnote also confirms that this e-mail message has been scanned for the presence of known computer viruses. ***********************************************************************