Re: Captain Schufeldt's report on marine sextants
Subject: Re: Captain Schufeldt's report on marine sextants
From: Jared Sherman (jared.sherman@XXX.XXX)
Date: Fri Dec 27 2002 - 03:24:27 EST
Marc-
Appendix III (which if I understand correctly may come from HM Naval Almanac Office) states "As has been noted in the body of this report the Nautical Almanac does not give sufficient accuracy when a position must be fixed with an error of less than 0.2 miles. For such use it is recommended that the data on....with an end accuracy of 0.05 minutes of arc...An electronic computer be used.."
Certainly an error of 0.2 miles would make me happy.<G> But apparently data can be carried to a much higher precision than that used to generate the almanac, and for a computer program to use 6 or 8 digits of precision in making mathematical calculations hardly takes up any extra "space" at all in the device these days.
Apparently such additional accuracy would be totally destroyed by near-shore thermal problems. Still, the report endorses the use of computers several times for several reasons, among them the ability to make rapid sequential reductions, and the ability to use greater accuracy.
