Just wondering...on the oceans, navigators use a sextant for out of sight of
land navigation. How is it done on the Great Lakes where they're not
operating at sea level? Of course, I'm talking about the absenceof
electronics. Anyone know of any literature on this?

Thanks,
Matt A.

Matt Ashbrook wrote:

Just wondering...on the oceans, navigators use a sextant for out of
sight of land navigation. How is it done on the Great Lakes where
they're not operating at sea level? Of course, I'm talking about the
absenceof electronics. Anyone know of any literature on this?

Thanks,
Matt A.

The answer is simple: They don't need to be at sea level
The actual difference in angle to any stellar object would be measurable,
but not with a sextant. Not with these small differences in height.

Peter
--
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend: and inside a dog,
it's too dark to read." -- Groucho Marx

I believe there is no correction for elevation. The angle that is being measured is the
height above the horizon, which is presumed to be a plane tangent to the surface of the
Earth. There is a correction for the elevation of the observer above water level. As
long as there is a clear horizon, the altitude is not relevant.

Actually, the angle of interest is the difference from directly overhead. Since we know
the spot on Earth directly below the star at a particular point in time, the difference
from being directly overhead implies a "circle of position" of the appropriate radius on
Earth. For example, if we assume the North Star is directly over the North Pole, then if
it is observed 20 degrees away from directly overhead, the observer must be on a circle 20
degrees away from the Pole, or 70 degrees North latitude.

Check out any basic celestial navigation book - this will be explained much better than I
can.

Off course, I don't know how much celestial was ever done on the Great Lakes - you're not
very often out of sight of land.

--
-jeff
"Constant Vigilance!" - Frances W. Wright



Matt Ashbrook wrote:
Just wondering...on the oceans, navigators use a sextant for out of
sight of land navigation. How is it done on the Great Lakes where
they're not operating at sea level? Of course, I'm talking about the
absenceof electronics. Anyone know of any literature on this?

Thanks,
Matt A.

Matt,

That is an interesting question. I know, I asked it 40 years ago. At
that time I was told that lake ships used celestial out on the big
lakes. Years later - due to a lack of work on the coast - I came out
here to run ore boats.

When I asked about when they do sights, the entire deck crew looked at
me very strangely, and one finally laughed. I turned out that one was
the only one that had any idea what I was talking about.

I have pulled down stars since I have been here, and attitude correction
is not required to get reasonable accuracy. The references that I have
about overland celestial (prior to loran and GPS) do not make any point
of altitude. Lake Superior being just over 600 feet really would not be
an issue compared to Lewis and Clark locating rivers nad mountains in
the wilderness.

I do hope that this is actually an answer to what you are asking.

By-the-by, do not put a real @ddress on the usenet. The spambots will
plague you forever.

Matt Colie A.Sloop "Bonne Ide'e" S2-7.9 #1
Lifelong Waterman, Licensed Mariner and Pathological Sailor


Matt Ashbrook wrote:
Just wondering...on the oceans, navigators use a sextant for out of sight of
land navigation. How is it done on the Great Lakes where they're not
operating at sea level? Of course, I'm talking about the absenceof
electronics. Anyone know of any literature on this?

Thanks,
Matt A.