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In honour of tonight's lunar eclipse, I've copied in a longitude by lunar
eclipse by Peter Fidler, Hudson's Bay Company surveyor, from 1808. Fidler
was on a journey from the Swan River to Red River and stopped over for 5
days in Brandon House (near the current city of Brandon Manitoba) where he
took these observations. In the transcription, "D. Alt." means a meridian
altitude of the sun through an artificial horizon, "(.)" means the sun,
and "))" is for the moon. The observations are not recorded in
chronological order as this is a fair copy of his field journal (a copy
made after the fact, cleaning up any useless information). The eclipse
data comes first, then a series of latitudes, compass variation, some time
shots, and two lunars (with almanac data below). Fidler clears his lunars
using Witchell's method (the corrections are given below the almanac data)
but sadly he left no trace of his workings in any of his notebooks.

Astronomical Observations taken at Brandon House 1808
Peter Fidler

Lunar Eclipse                  Watch
May 9th                     Beg      | End
                          | #  '     | #  '
Beginning . . . . . . . . | 11.1     | 14.32
Black spot below  . . . . | 11.6     | 13.39
Bright spot above - near
               the middle | 11.8 1/2 | 13.43
Like Tycho near UL  . . . | 11.18 1/2| 13.52 1/4
A black spot on E side
                  on left | 11.29    | 14.3
Tycho, middle near ))'s UL| 11.36    | Forgot the
Begin^g Total Darkness  . | 11.59 1/2|
End Total Darkness  . . . | 13.33
A spot not marked above . | 13.35
A Bright spot near the middle - the left one
 of the two close together| 14.7
End of Eclipse  . . . . . | 14.32
End of Penumbra . . . . . | 14.37

Long^de by Beginning        99..41 1/4
  Beg. Tot^l Darkness       99..35 1/2
  End Tot^l Darkness        99..29
  End of Eclipse            99..14
                           -----------
               Mean         99.29.56
2^nd Obs.                  -----------
                             ?  '  "
Mean of all . . . . . . . . 99.25.5
     of Lat^de  . . . . . . 49.40.43

Very clear calm night, the moon red, but still visible - very
good sight from beginning to the end.
N.B. The Mandan Village at the Missouri is said to bear about SSE
from River Qu'Appelle House - and to W of S from Brandon House.

May 9  D Alt. | Lat
      (.)  LL |
      ?  '  " |
     115.3.30 |
     -     15 |
    --------------------
     115.3.15 | 49.40.29

May 10 D Alt.  | Lat
      (.)  LL  |
      ?  '  "  |
     115.34.0  |
     -      15 |
    --------------------
     115.33.45 | 49.40.57

May 11 D Alt. | Lat
      (.)  LL |
      ?  '  " |
     116.5.30 |
     -     15 |
    --------------------
     115.5.15 | 49.40.42

May 9  D Alt. | (.) bore
 #4 1/4 (.) LL
      56.19.0 | S70? 1/2 W
         27.0 | 71 1/2
      55.55.0 | 72 1/2
     ---------------------
      56.27.0 | S 71 1/2 W
       -    15
     ---------------------
      56.26.45| Variat E
                12?..12"

May 9  #  '  " | (.) LL
       4.16.17 | 54.52.30
         17. 0 | --.39.15
         17.37 | --.27. 0
       ------------------
       4.16.58 | 54.39.35
       + 14. 8 | -     15
       ------------------
       4.31. 6 | 54.39.20

May 9  #  '  " | (.) LL
      20.41.35 | 83.21. 0
         42.24 | --.34.30
         43.12 | --.48.15
      -------------------
      20.42.24 | 83.34.35
      +  18.40 | -     15
      -------------------
      21. 1. 4 | 83.34.20

May 14 #  '  " | (.) LL
      19. 6.32 | 49.15. 0
          7.21 | --.31. 0
          8. 4 | --.45. 0
      -------------------
      19. 7.19 | 49.30.20
      -     44 | -     15
      -------------------
      19. 6.35 | 49.30. 5

May 14 #  '  " | )) & (.)'s NL
      18.45.54 | 110?23'45"
         47.50 | ---.23. 0
         48.15 |    .22.30
         49.15 |    .22.15
         50. 8 |    .22. 0
         51. 6 |    .21.45
         52. 4 |    .21.15
         52.53 |    .20.45
         53.53 |    .20.30
         54. 7 |    .20.15
     ----------------------
      18.50.32 | 110.21.48
      -     44 | -      15
     ----------------------
      18.49.48 | 110.21.33     99? 24 1/4'

May 14 #  '  " | )) & (.)'s NL
      19. 9.18 | 110?14'45"
         10.38 | ---.14.15
         11.35 |    .14. 0
         12.43 |    .13.30
         13.45 |    .13. 0
         14.41 |    .12.15
         15.36 |    .11.45
         16.33 |    .11.30
         17.25 |    .11.15
         18.24 |    .11. 0
     ----------------------
      19.14. 4 | 110.12.43
      -     44 | -      15
     ----------------------
      19.13.20 | 110.12.28     99? 16 1/4'

(.) TA 22?16' 5"   | 26? 4'40"
    AA 22.18.15    | 26. 6.28
  Semi    15.50    |    15.50
)) TA  21.41.30    | 19. 3.50
   AA  20.50.40    | 18.12.33
  Semi    15.41    |    15.40
   HP     57. 2    |    57. 1
+1'14" -29'28" -5" |+1'1" -31'47" -5"
      110.24.45    | 110.13.7

Ken Muldrew.

   

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