NavList:

By the way: I just found an excellent website which explains how to draw ellipses by hand. It is courtesy of Steven Dutch, University of Wisconsin, Green Bay and can be found here:

https://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/MATHALGO/Ellipses.HTM

I just tried the "trammel" (internal) method and I think I agree with Mr. Dutch when he says, "In my view the best method. [...] With any reasonable care this method is quite accurate and it is very fast."

I'm going to try drawing some meridian diagrams with ellipses instead of arcs and see how the accuracy changes.

Note: A quick way to do this is to use Stan K's "Celestial Tools" program. It plots meridian diagrams and has radio buttons which allow you to switch between using arcs of circles or ellipses. I've been using it to check my work. Thanks, Stan! Version 4.3.0 is great!

Regards,
Sean C.
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