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    Re: Destination from course and distance
    From: Paul Hirose
    Date: 2005 Feb 20, 14:56 -0800

    As an example, I'll do a great circle course from Los Angeles to Tokyo
    with HO 229 sight reduction tables. After that I'll reverse the
    calculation, which is what the original poster wanted.
    
    34N 118W  Los Angeles
    36N 140E  Tokyo
    
    Use Los Angeles as the "observer" and Tokyo as the "star". The "LHA"
    is the longitude of Tokyo, measured west from Los Angeles: 360 - 118 -
    140 = 102 degrees.
    
    Looking in the tables for LHA 102 and "latitude same name as
    declination", we find Hc = 10.9 deg and Zn = 306. The latter of course
    is the great circle bearing to Tokyo. Distance to Tokyo = 90 - 10.9 =
    79.1 degrees = 4750 miles.
    
    Now let's work that backward: depart Los Angeles on course 306, follow
    a great circle for 4750 miles. The computed endpoint should be Tokyo's
    coordinates. Let's see.
    
    To solve this problem, consider Los Angeles the "pole" and the north
    pole the "observer". Therefore, we use the actual latitude of Los
    Angeles as before. On the other hand, "LHA" is different: at the
    "pole" (Los Angeles), measure clockwise from the "observer" (north
    pole) to the "star" (Tokyo). In other words, use the initial great
    circle course (306) as the "LHA".
    
    For "declination", convert 4750 miles to degrees: 4750 / 60 = 79
    degrees (to the nearest whole degree). Subtract that from 90 to
    convert distance to "declination". So dec = 11 deg and is the same
    name as lat. (If distance were greater that 90 deg, it would have
    contrary name.)
    
    Enter HO 229 with LHA 306, lat 34, dec 11 same name. The table gives
    Hc = 36 (to the nearest degree). That's a direct readout of the
    endpoint latitude. Longitude requires a little more work. The table
    says Zn = 102. This is measured at the "observer" (north pole)
    clockwise from the "pole" (observer) to the "star" (Tokyo). In other
    words, Zn = 102 means the destination is 102 degrees west of Los
    Angeles. This corresponds to longitude 140 east. So the calculation
    produced the correct latitude and longitude.
    
    Intermediate points on the great circle can be found on the same page
    by varying the declination. Since dec 90 is zero distance from the
    starting point, and dec 11 is all the way to the destination, dec 50
    would be the approximate midpoint of the great circle, etc.
    
    I used HO 229, but any of the sight reduction intercept methods can
    solve these problems. HO 299 includes instructions for interpolating a
    more accurate solution instead of simply working to the nearest degree
    as I did. But I suspect the extra work wouldn't result in a
    significantly shorter voyage. Certainly it's more convenient to
    navigate between waypoints when they're at whole degree intersections.
    
    
    

       
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