Next message: Frank Reed: "Re: Lunars question for Frank"
Hi Jim. You wrote:
"It would seem to me that the globe device if it had sufficient accuracy
could be used to solve a lunar distance though I doubt the accuracy of scales
would allow for this."
There were a number of "devices" invented and sold that would solve lunars
this way, but they were not popular. First, they're not accurate, as you
guessed. Second, they were fairly difficult to use (and so unless the navigator is
severely math-phobic, it was simpler to learn one of the various paper
methods). Third, they were too expensive. Fourth, they required careful
maintenance and storage.
I think the same complaints, though to a lesser degree, apply to using
globes to solve the standard celestial spherical triangle problem.
-FER
42.0N 87.7W, or 41.4N 72.1W.
www.HistoricalAtlas.com/lunars
