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Re: Apollo spacecraft sextant
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 May 3, 22:53 EDT
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 May 3, 22:53 EDT
I wrote earlier:
" This would require an almanac with heliocentric coordinates for all of the planets, but that's no problem (the Nautical Almanac from the 1780s included heliocentric latitudes and longitudes, for some odd reason, but not distances)."
Ken M replied:
"I think the longitudes and latitudes were to calculate the lunar distances using the approximate formula..."
That would make sense for the geocentric celestial (ecliptic) latitude s and longitudes in the almanac, but I'm talking about *heliocentric* lats and lons. They're labeled as such and just scanning quickly they do indeed appear to be heliocentric. I can't think of any practical purpose for them. The Nautical Almanac seemed to have various experimental sections in this early period. Maybe they were included for astronomers' use...
Frank E. Reed
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
" This would require an almanac with heliocentric coordinates for all of the planets, but that's no problem (the Nautical Almanac from the 1780s included heliocentric latitudes and longitudes, for some odd reason, but not distances)."
Ken M replied:
"I think the longitudes and latitudes were to calculate the lunar distances using the approximate formula..."
That would make sense for the geocentric celestial (ecliptic) latitude s and longitudes in the almanac, but I'm talking about *heliocentric* lats and lons. They're labeled as such and just scanning quickly they do indeed appear to be heliocentric. I can't think of any practical purpose for them. The Nautical Almanac seemed to have various experimental sections in this early period. Maybe they were included for astronomers' use...
Frank E. Reed
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
