Next message: Frank Reed: "Re: dip, dip short, distance off with buildings, etc."
Ken Gebhart wrote:
> On 1/14/06 9:24 PM, "Fred Hebard" <> wrote:
>
>
>> Great post Ken. I can imagine it would be a lot of fun, or
>> something, to try to work out a sight by hand while steering with
>> one's knees!
>>
>> How would you measure squash? The altitude of the two limbs and
>> assuming the SD for the width or the semi-diameter both ways? I
>> don't know how to do semi-diameter with an aircraft sextant (or
>> anything else with an aircraft sextant!).
>>
>> Fred
>>
>>
> Thanks Fred,
>
> The idea is just a visual observation without a sextant. The ellipse
> templates as mentioned, could be used to compare with the squashed sun to
> get a good value. The entire squash phenomenon takes place during a 15 to
> 20 minute period. The first discernable squash is at about 2%, and can best
> be seen with the head tilted 90 deg to the side. For some reason we humans
> can detect a slight ellipse with the major axis vertical rather than
> horizontal.
>
> Ken
>
>
I would suspect that preference for ellipses with a vertical major axis
comes about from our innate ability
to visually locate faces in all sorts of whacky backgrounds and
environments. Ain't evolution grand.
I know it's off topic.
Cheers,
Glenn
