NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: CelNav without sextants
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Nov 2, 21:10 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Nov 2, 21:10 EST
Dave W wrote:
"If it were possible to accomplish comparable precision without a sextant as with, why would we even need or want a sextant.
So the short answer to this version of your question must be no."
Clearly, people buy sextants for many different reasons. Historically, sextants were much cheaper than excellent clocks and watches. Today, it's the other way around, and radically so. Regardless, it is an amusing "game" question. Are there circumstances under which you can navigate without a sextant?
A related game: are there circumstances under which you can navigate celestially without any timepiece at all? (yes, rarely and not very well: see the "Lunars Game" I mentioned in another post)
Another related game: are there circumstances under which you can navigate celestially without a sextant, without a timepiece, AND without an almanac (of any type)? I think the almanac is the "technological artifact" that is most difficult to do without...
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
"If it were possible to accomplish comparable precision without a sextant as with, why would we even need or want a sextant.
So the short answer to this version of your question must be no."
Clearly, people buy sextants for many different reasons. Historically, sextants were much cheaper than excellent clocks and watches. Today, it's the other way around, and radically so. Regardless, it is an amusing "game" question. Are there circumstances under which you can navigate without a sextant?
A related game: are there circumstances under which you can navigate celestially without any timepiece at all? (yes, rarely and not very well: see the "Lunars Game" I mentioned in another post)
Another related game: are there circumstances under which you can navigate celestially without a sextant, without a timepiece, AND without an almanac (of any type)? I think the almanac is the "technological artifact" that is most difficult to do without...
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
