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A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Re: ReRe: Level of observation accuracy
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Jul 24, 15:29 EDT
From: Frank Reed CT
Date: 2004 Jul 24, 15:29 EDT
Bill wrote:
"While I hate to admit it, started this quest a couple of months ago with
Celestaire's Wurzburg cardboard sextant. Manufacturer claims it can be
accurate to within 8 minutes of an arc. With a little mirror tweaking and
putting a horizontal slit across the eye side of the viewing tube, am
getting within 2-3 minutes consistently from seated position on a stable
platform or tripod mounted. So I figure plus/minus 3 minutes is my range of
instrument slop. Humidity does affect index error. <G>"
Very interesting. Cheap sextants are nothing to sneeze at. Most people eventually prefer to get a fancy one simply because they look so professional, but by practical standards plastic and cardboard sextants are very good.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
"While I hate to admit it, started this quest a couple of months ago with
Celestaire's Wurzburg cardboard sextant. Manufacturer claims it can be
accurate to within 8 minutes of an arc. With a little mirror tweaking and
putting a horizontal slit across the eye side of the viewing tube, am
getting within 2-3 minutes consistently from seated position on a stable
platform or tripod mounted. So I figure plus/minus 3 minutes is my range of
instrument slop. Humidity does affect index error. <G>"
Very interesting. Cheap sextants are nothing to sneeze at. Most people eventually prefer to get a fancy one simply because they look so professional, but by practical standards plastic and cardboard sextants are very good.
Frank R
[ ] Mystic, Connecticut
[X] Chicago, Illinois
