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Subject: Re: Calculating accurate apparent-angles between stars
From: George Huxtable (george@XXX.XXX)
Date: Tue Jan 07 2003 - 19:29:32 EST
Fred Hebard asked, about Bruce Stark's Lunar Tables-
>George
>
>I wonder whether you and Bruce could share your correspondence on his
>method with the group.
Reply from George-
Well, our private correspondence covered those very questions that Bruce
has just elucidated to the list, so I doubt it would add much more than he
has just done.
If there is more to add, I think it's up to Bruce to decide to provide it,
or not. Many subscribers to this list, and owners of Bruce's tables, would
value a full account of the thinking that went into their clever
construction. We modern lunartics differ, I suggest, from old-time
mariners: in general they would have been content with any tool that gave
the right answers, whether or not they understood how it worked. I would
like to think that most of us are driven by a greater degree of
intellectual curiosity, and feel that we need to know what's going on.
I hope Bruce can be persuaded to write an appendix to his lunar tables
which explains their internal working. Will he take the hint? It's up to
him.
George Huxtable.
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