Posted by David Bamford on October 28, 2007 at 10:47:59 from 220.253.60.248 user David.
In Reply to: Celestial navigation - difficult? (Was Longitude; Time Ball; Signal Stations) posted by Jock on October 28, 2007 at 09:14:54:
The actual mathematics of the Intercept or Marc St. Hilaire method are just addition and subtraction, and looking up values in astronomical almanac tables. There's no rocket science in it. The rocket science is in the tables of astronomical ephemera. If you can have a form of the necessary values to add, subtract and look up, it's a piece of cake. If you have to remember what to add or subtract, etc at the appropriate stage in the calculation, then it becomes a bit more difficult. There are programmable calculators which can be set up to do the calculation with the input of time, sextant reading and ephemeral values from the almanac, and these remove a source of human error.
David.