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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Dip uncertainty
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2004 Dec 8, 16:21 -0500
From: Alexandre Eremenko
Date: 2004 Dec 8, 16:21 -0500
Frank, On Wed, 8 Dec 2004, Frank Reed wrote: > The physics of refraction in air is straight-forward. > Creating density > profiles is also no problem. > Integrating the equations numerically is no problem. > But it's not science... Why not? Theoretical prediction IS science. Its verification is a separate business. By the way, if one wants to experiment, no dipmeter is necessary to measure the dip. One can determine her position by GPS, and then compare observed altitudes with computed altitudes. Of course it is better to use a theodolite from the sea shore, because we are talking of rather small effects, comparable with sextant observation errors. What would be harder for such amator experiments, is to get a temperature profile for given time. Alex.
