NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Frank Reed
Date: 2017 May 18, 11:44 -0700
In the lat/lon from a photo thread, Bill Anders wrote:
"Moving on.... Is there a general mathematical solution to this problem? The class I'm working with is relatively advanced (some trig, some calculus), so math difficulty is really no issue. Ignoring longitude, if I measure the altitudes of two known stars with some exactness, is there a formula that will tell me my latitude? Frank, I read your messages about the Orion North Arrow in your NavList library here: http://fer3.com/arc/m2.aspx/Orion-North-Arrow-FrankReed-feb-2017-g38274. I understand that the arrow is intended for a rough measure of north direction and latitude, too, but for a related example: if I measure, very accurately, the altitudes of Betelgeuse and Rigel as Orion is rising, could I get my latitude directly???"
I am really busy right now, so I am hoping some of the rest of you out there can address this. Obviously this can be done by standard plotting of two lines of position with an arbitrary longitude, but I assume Bill is looking for something more direct. Any ideas?
Frank Reed
