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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Buying a sextant- a cautionary tale.
From: Bill B
Date: 2006 May 5, 03:18 -0400
From: Bill B
Date: 2006 May 5, 03:18 -0400
Thanks Chuck, I *should have* done a third count and checked against Frank's and .gov sites, but time was short and frustration levels were getting high. But there are no "should haves," I did or I didn't. Omar's site listed Mintaka as RA 5:32:18 and declination as 0d 00.4' N on May 5, 2006. RA 5:32:18 = SHA 276d 55!5 without a v adjustment for the sun? Almanac listed delta Orionus as SHA 276d 55!3 and declination as Od 17!6 S. That's an significant difference in declination. Quote: > Mintaka and delta Orionus are one and the same. Look > on pages 272 and 273 of the U.S. Nautical Almanac > under SHA 276. I did, but my almanac has it as delta Orionus, not Mintaka. And Omar's Mintaka did not match the... Oy vey, whatever that means ;-) Even after correcting to almanac SHA and declination, I am still off Alex's figures, which is another point of frustration (especially after the aborted calculator duel and defense of 229's honor.) Bill > -- Bill wrote: > >> Using the Hipparcos Catalogue the closet star I >> could to delta Orion for >> that SHA range and declination starting in Od was >> Mintaka. I could not see >> a delta Orion on Omars site. >> >> I don't see anything matching Mintak's name or >> specifications in the >> almanac. > Chuck responded: > > Mintaka and delta Orionus are one and the same. Look > on pages 272 and 273 of the U.S. Nautical Almanac > under SHA 276. It is the right-most of the 3 stars in > Orion's belt. > > Mintaka is one of my favorite stars. Note that its > declination is about 0 degrees 17 minutes South. That > means that it rises almost exactly in the east (090) > and sets almost exactly in the west (270) every day of > the year.