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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: ? ? ? Re: Lewis and Clark lunars: more 1803 Almanac data
From: Bruce Stark
Date: 2004 Apr 17, 12:24 EDT
From: Bruce Stark
Date: 2004 Apr 17, 12:24 EDT
Would it be possible the captains were having trouble reading off the sextant vernier (or nonius, as it was sometimes called)? I've never used a vernier sextant, but remember other vernier devices being easy to misread. Someone with a vernier sextant divided to 15" might try setting it to the values those lunars should have gotten, and seeing if it would be possible to mistakenly read off the values that were recorded.
Admittedly, this is grasping a straw.
Bruce
Admittedly, this is grasping a straw.
Bruce