NavList:

----- Original Message -----

From: Marcel E. Tschudin

To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM

Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 2:40 PM

Subject: Re: Refraction

Hello Robert

 

Thank you for your fast reply. Unfortunately I am not in possession of the Air Almanac; in addition I am for about an other year abroad in a country where I am not able to order copies from a library. May I therefore ask you, whether it would be possible for you to derive from the table you indicated one or the other benchmark value? As you mentioned this would at least give a clue. Thanks a lot!

 

Like you I am still hoping that there is some one out there who really can provide a solution to this problem.

 

Marcel

----- Original Message -----

From: Robert Eno

To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM

Sent: Saturday, September 03, 2005 2:37 PM

Subject: Re: Refraction

Hello Marcel

 

Refraction error makes the observed body appear to be higher than it actually is, ergo the same correction rules for postitive altitudes would apply to negative altitudes; only in this case the negative numbers would be added.  If, for example, your sextant altitude was minus 5 degrees, and the refraction correction was (I am just pulling a random number out of my head) minus 60 minutes (refraction correction is always subtracted from the sextant altitude), then your corrected altitude would be minus 6 degrees.

 

Near as I can reckon, you would only experience negative altitudes from an aircraft flying at high altitudes or in the polar regions in winter.

 

Have a look at Table # 6, HO 249, Sight Reduction Tables for Air Navigation and the correction tables at the back of the Air Almanac. These give you a bit of a clue as to what to expect. Other than these tables, I know of no other tables which provide refraction corrections for negative altitudes for observers at sea level.  If anyone out there is aware of such tables, do let me know. It is a question I have not pondered for some time now.

 

Robert

----- Original Message -----

From: Marcel E. Tschudin

To: NAVIGATION-L@LISTSERV.WEBKAHUNA.COM

Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 6:48 AM

Subject: Refraction

Hello

 

While searching with Google, I came across this mail list. May be some one out here may be able to help me answering the following question:

 

How do refraction values for negative elevations have to be calculated, such as e.g. the horizon from a plane? (I am interested in the range of 0° to approx. –5°.)

 

Is Bennett’s approximation also valid for negative elevations? If not, what other approximation formulae should be used, or, where can one find some benchmark values?

 

I am interested in formulae for both, refraction from apparent position and from physical position.

 

Thank you for any input to my problem.

 

Marcel