NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Occultations of jupiter's satellites
From: Federico Rossi
Date: 2003 Apr 6, 19:01 +0200
From: Federico Rossi
Date: 2003 Apr 6, 19:01 +0200
I've read Arthur Pearson's contribution about Lunar
distances and found it very interesting.
As far as getting accurate time at sea is
concerned, I think another method is worth noting.
My father was an Italian merchant marine officer
during the '60: an older officer once told him he had still used a method based
on timing the occultations of Jupiter's Galilean satellites to get the K of
chronometers, probably before WWII when accurate radio timing signals were not
always available. A long focus telescope was installed on the bridge and,
comparing the timing of the occultation given by the nautical almanac and the
time given by the chronometer, one could obtain the correction later used to
reduce star sights. This method doesn't even need to take sights with sextant
and, in periods of good Jupiter visibility, several occultations occurs every
day.
Have you ever heard about this
technique?
Federico Rossi
