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Bravo! I wondered if Antoine could be tempted by my words...

If he goes a bit up the page, he will find-

===============

2 Dec 1803. (Moulton pages 119-122 )

During a few days' pause, 3 miles West of [old] Kaskaskia. L&C recorded 
several observations.

Where were they?

Nowadays, we have a distinct advantage over L&C, in that we know, within a 
mile or two, where their camp had been set up at Kaskaskia since 28 Nov., 
using modern mapping. From the website associated with Harlan and Denny's 
"Atlas of Lewis and Clark in Missouri", this is determined as N37.985 
(37deg 59.1'), W89.953 (89deg 57.2'). See section 1.2.

======================

After correcting some equal-altitude observations, made for another 
purpose, we can find-

"These revised timings result in a deduced latitude of 37° 58.6', which is 
very close to our estimated position from the atlas of 37° 59.1' , within 
0.5'."

However. Lewis thought otherwise-

"Lewis states, at the top of page 121- "observed meridian Altd. of Sun's 
Lower Limb, with my Octant & artificial horizan, found it 58° 38' Error of 
Octant 2° additive.
Latd, from the preceding observation with Octant- 38° 20' 57". Lewis does 
not explain how he arrives at that result."

As for his longitude, I think it's fair to say that Lewis had little idea 
where he was.

George.

contact George Huxtable, at  george@hux.me.uk
or at +44 1865 820222 (from UK, 01865 820222)
or at 1 Sandy Lane, Southmoor, Abingdon, Oxon OX13 5HX, UK.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Antoine Couette" 
To: 
Sent: Tuesday, September 21, 2010 5:30 PM
Subject: [NavList] Re: Lewis and Clark. was: sextant practice and time 
keepers


Dear George,



For the Lunar distance observations, night of 2-3 Dec, 1803, you indicated 
:

"Those confusions relate to ordinary altitude observations, but things get
much worse when we reach the attempts at a lunar, at Kaskaskia, on the
night of 2-3 December, 1803. Try as I might, I am quite unable to unravel
the observations to make sense of them. If anyone else can arrive at any
understanding, I would be most pleased to hear about it. Details are all
there on the website, if you follow the journey to that date."

I wish to give it a try : what observer's coordinates should I (best) use 
to re-work these Lunars ?


Thank you and Best Regards

Kermit


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