Celestial Navigation of Lewis and Clark

Do you enjoy math? Do you enjoy astronomy and are you intrigued with celestial navigation?

Tune in and see how we can calculate where Lewis and Clark were on the day following the lunar eclipse of January 15th, 1805.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Lewis
• Clark
• sextant
• celestial
• navigation
• nautical
• spherical
• trigonometry
• mathmetics
• astronomy
• horizon
• lunar
• eclipse
• 1805

[Slamaxe]

Despite the negative comments, I found it to be an interesting presentation., Thank you

[iviewthetube]

Much appreciate the compliment S1amaxe.

Also, I hope everyone checks out your Survival Celestial navigation tricks and tips. Cool stuff.

[andtheniwas]

why, oh why, didnt you practice this piece before recording? you are the type that gives science a bad name.

[iviewthetube]

Are you suggesting that I re-narrate it?

I was also thinking of elaborating the calc's to show more precisely how the calculations are done. Do you think that would help also?

[bodybager]

What would you say the one standard deviation error ellipse would be, given the combined factors such as artificial horizon, mediocre timepiece, and high index error indicates an unhealthy banged up sextant... probably 30-40 minutes in longitude and maybe 5-10 minutes in lattitude?

Does the lattitude agree with Polaris sightings in that timeframe?

[iviewthetube]

When I said from true north I actually meant from the celestial north pole. The azimuth of Polaris from true north would depend where you and it are on the PZS triangle.

[iviewthetube]

Regarding the error ellipse: are you studying land surveying?

Generally, all other things being equal, the more precise the equipment the better the measurements will be.

[iviewthetube]

In 1805, Polaris was 1º43.5' from true north; today it is only 42.1' away. On 24 March 2100, Polaris will reach the closest approach only 27.15' from true north. When using Polaris to measure latitude and/or true north then be sure to take its declination into account.

[iviewthetube]

Note that declination is simply the same as latitude and GHA is the same as longitude.

I realize that this is a lot of material to cover in just 5 minutes but please feel free to comment or ask any questions.