NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: Out of Date Almanac
From: Douglas Denny
Date: 2009 Dec 9, 07:05 -0800
From: Douglas Denny
Date: 2009 Dec 9, 07:05 -0800
I also have ICE Version 0.51(Interactive Computer Ephemeris) by the US Naval Observatory Nautical Almanac Office available for anyone who wants it. It gives data I believe to full precision astronomical almanac level. It is quite basic in use being an old Dos based programme and uses the function keys a lot, but is OK when you are used to it. It is not simple point and click as in windows. The default values can be changed for your exact location, and the 'nav' facility then gives a direct output of Hc and Az for all the normal astronomical bodies for your location for any time entered. This is useful to check sextant observations for calibration using celestial bodies for your reference object as it can be done in seconds. The only minor problem is delta T is fixed and is currently about five seconds 'out' but that can be easily allowed for when entering time. (I have looked at the files and cannot find how delta T is stored so it then could be changed. It might be calculated by some algorithm, though I expect more likely it is in a look-up table). I thought I would upload it in Zip format for anyone who wanted to use it here but it will not upload, probably due to potential virus constraints. I think it is readily available if you look around on the internet. ---------- Using any four year cycle of nautical almanac books is probably adequate for practical navigation within a few minutes of arc for the sun and stars. Here again we can get into arguments and the semantics of just exactly what is 'accurate' navigation in a theoretical sense as opposed to what accuracy is required for _practical_ navigation. As an example of what I mean: I have a copy of Encyclopaedia Britannica for 1797 which has a table of declinations of the Sun over a four year cycle for practical navigation use for latitude by noon meridian sight of the sun. It is only 'out' by around 12 min of arc when compared with a modern almanac, and could, if you were stuck without anything else, use it still today to make landfall crossing the Atlantic say, (with a careful lookout) by the methods used then. Douglas Denny. Chichester. England. -- NavList message boards: www.fer3.com/arc Or post by email to: NavList@fer3.com To , email NavList+@fer3.com