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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Alternate methods of sight reduction
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Dec 9, 02:29 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2005 Dec 9, 02:29 EST
Hi Jim. You wrote: "It would seem to me that the globe device if it had sufficient accuracy could be used to solve a lunar distance though I doubt the accuracy of scales would allow for this." There were a number of "devices" invented and sold that would solve lunars this way, but they were not popular. First, they're not accurate, as you guessed. Second, they were fairly difficult to use (and so unless the navigator is severely math-phobic, it was simpler to learn one of the various paper methods). Third, they were too expensive. Fourth, they required careful maintenance and storage. I think the same complaints, though to a lesser degree, apply to using globes to solve the standard celestial spherical triangle problem. -FER 42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W. www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars