NavList:

   

Reply

This morning, after weeks of cloudy weather, a beautiful sun was shining
over Genoa, Italy so I took my 1940 Plath sextant, reached the shore (44
25.5 N 8 48.8 E by GPS) which is only 5 minutes away by feet and took my
first Venus sight in full daylight.
I preset the sextant to the precomputed altitude and, after some tries,
I finally spotted Venus with its phase clearly visible through my 3.5 x
scope.
Here's what I got:
08 50 31 UT      Hs 26 37,1    I.C. = 0     elevation 4 meters
I worked out the sight using the haversine method and Norie's tables (as
I usually like to do) and found an intercept of 0.8 miles towards (which
I consider not too bad considering the task of collimating Venus with a
bright horizon), azimuth being 189,5 by ABC tables.
Since the hour angle was within ex-meridian limits (8 52.0 W), I decided
to work the sight as an ex-meridian and found that the position line
passes through 44 24,5 N 8 48,8 E (in good accordance with the "normal"
position, but only 0.2 miles towards Venus). Anyway, this ex-meridian
reduction took almost the same time as the haversine did.......

   

Reply