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    Re: Lewis & Clark
    From: Bruce Stark
    Date: 2004 May 31, 09:04 EDT
    This message was posted to the wrong address yesterday afternoon:

    I've finished working the six sets of lunars Lewis and Clark took June 3d, 1804. Calculating the moon's altitude using the Almanac of that era, without electronic help, is not for the faint of heart. No wonder it was usually avoided.

    The L&C data is on pages 273 and 274 of Moulton's Volume 2. Here are my results:

    92° 12' W
    91° 49' W
    91° 4' W
    90° 50' W
    91° 20' W
    91° 12' W

    Don't take these numbers as the last word. I seem to be unusually blunder prone—thinking one number and writing down another, etc. I hope other List members will work the June 2nd and 3d observations themselves, maybe with calculators or computers.

    George apparently didn't get the posting with the results of the June 2nd observations, so I'll paste part of it below.

    [Beginning of excerpt] Speaking of good L&C observations, try the June 2nd 1804 group, pages 270 and 271 of Moulton's Volume 2.

    I get a latitude of 38° 31.'1 north, same as Lewis. Professor Bergantino, who went over the ground, puts the camp 5' further north.

    By the way, my view is that, with the back observation, the 2° 11.'7 correction was meant to be applied to the altitude itself.

    For longitude, I get 91° 41 west. Bergantino puts it 11' further west.

    I threw out the first of the five lunars. Lewis averaged that set of eight himself, and doesn't give the individual measurements. His average got 89° 40', far enough from the other four sets to be suspect.

    The remaining four get:
    91° 56'
    91° 24'
    91° 45'
    91° 38'

    [End of excerpt]

    Bruce
       
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