NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Tony Oz
Date: 2019 May 8, 16:45 -0700
Frank, you've said:
...the important point about culmination not matching peak altitude is that it throws off the time of culmination. The value of the altitude observed will be nearly the same except in unusually fast vessels.
This I read as if the "culmination" is the same as the "meridian passage", which both should be distinguished from the "peak altitude". I always thought that the "culmination" IS the "peak altitude". Just looked up the wikipedia - they say that I was wrong... In the everyday speak the "culmination" word is about something's highest point. Language again!
So, back to the original topic - by properly accounting for the effective North-South movement (observer's and Sun's) one obtains the proper mer-pass time, using which against the apparently sinusoidal tip of "faired" LAN altitudes one reads his proper latitude. Right? The difference with the peak may be small for a slower vessel or near the solstices or in lower latitudes.
Regards,
Tony
60°N 30°E
