NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Missed opportunities, was: Moon eclipse
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Oct 31, 21:04 EST
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Oct 31, 21:04 EST
"Given that the Lunar method was proposed by Hipparchus
in III cent BC, it is surprising that it was so rarely used"
It didn't really matter. Celestial navigation (and the required mapping of the globe that went with it) arose from competition among maritime powers. You don't need to travel efficiently unless someone else is managing to be more efficient. Apart from "academic" or other social luxury interest in an accurate map, longitude could wait until it was needed economically and militarily... and did.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
in III cent BC, it is surprising that it was so rarely used"
It didn't really matter. Celestial navigation (and the required mapping of the globe that went with it) arose from competition among maritime powers. You don't need to travel efficiently unless someone else is managing to be more efficient. Apart from "academic" or other social luxury interest in an accurate map, longitude could wait until it was needed economically and militarily... and did.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
