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Greg,

> Spread or scatter has been used here on the list to describe
> the difference between maximum and minimum values. Not sure what the
> statistics term is (variance ?).

I don't think there is a standard term, but "spread" is Ok.
Variance is different: it is usually defined as
the square root of the average of the squares of individual deviations.

> On preset observations the micrometer is set exactly on an
> even minute of arc then the time is mark when the Sun's lower limb
> touches the horizon (fingers are off the micrometer).

This is the usual method recommended with ordinary sextant (when observing
the Sun). At least Russian manuals recommend it for the Sun.

One thing which surprises me is that your Index Correction happens
to be so nearly close to 6' (even minutes!).
Suppose it were 5' in reality.
Then you would determine it either as 4' or as 6',
and your whole series would have a systemanic bias of 1'.

The difficulty of determining the Index Error with high precision was
many times discussed on this list.

Also I suppose that your scope has power 1.5x or something like this.
Anyway, there are many reasons I could imagine which would lead to
errors much larger than you have.

Alex.

   

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