NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Mecca
From: Richard B. Langley
Date: 2000 Aug 24, 8:48 PM
From: Richard B. Langley
Date: 2000 Aug 24, 8:48 PM
I have the coordinates in my office at the university and will send them along
tomorrow.
-- Richard Langley
Professor of Geodesy and Precision Navigation
On Fri, 25 Aug 2000, R.H. van Gent wrote:
>Dear all,
>
>I hope that my query will not be too much out of place on this list but
>I would be most grateful if anyone could help me on this matter.
>
>As most list members will know the Kabah of Mecca (Saudi Arabia)
>represents the geographical centre of the Islamic world and its exact
>position with respect to Greenwich would seem to be exactly known. I
>know that up to fairly recent times this was not so due to the fact that
>the city of Mecca was (and still is) forbidden territory for
>non-Muslims, making it virtually impossible for European surveyors to
>determine its position with any exactitude.
>
>Modern encyclopaedias, atlases and internet gazetteers all give its
>position as 21 degree 27 minutes North and 39 degree 49 minutes East of
>Greenwich but do not specify for which part of Mecca this refers to. Can
>anyone on this list quote more precise figures for the geographical
>position of the Kabah of Mecca, preferably with a reference, or direct
>me to sources that can provide me with this information?
>
>Thanks in advance.
>
>========================================================
>* Robert H. van Gent * Tel/Fax: 00-31-30-2720269 *
>* Zaagmolenkade 50 * *
>* 3515 AE Utrecht * E-mail: r.h.vangent@astro.uu.nl *
>* The Netherlands * *
>********************************************************
>* Home page: http://www.phys.uu.nl/~vgent/homepage.htm *
>========================================================
>
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Richard B. Langley E-mail: lang@unb.ca
Geodetic Research Laboratory Web: http://www.unb.ca/GGE/
Dept. of Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering Phone: +1 506 453-5142
University of New Brunswick Fax: +1 506 453-4943
Fredericton, N.B., Canada E3B 5A3
Fredericton? Where's that? See: http://www.city.fredericton.nb.ca/
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