NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
Sidereal Hour Angle vs. Right Ascension
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2005 Aug 15, 09:41 -0400
From: Robert Eno
Date: 2005 Aug 15, 09:41 -0400
I was looking through some old almanacs over the
weekend and noted that in the 1940's at least, the almanac provided celestial
coordinates in terms of right ascension, in hours and minutes.
Can anyone tell me at what point in
time navigators moved from using right ascension to sidereal hour angle for
reckoning celestial coordinates? Why was this done?
My first guess is that SHA is easier because one
does not have to reckon with hours and minutes but instead, uses the more
familiar degrees and minutes. Nevertheless, this is the system that I
learned so it would naturally appear to be easier.
Robert
