SMOOTHING A NOON SIGHT

Robert W. Severance

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	It is shown that fitting a least squares parabola to a series of sun altitudes measured for an hour around local apparent noon gives a position fix more accurate than any of the single measurements. The altitudes were measured with an inexpensive plastic sextant and had fairly large variance. After the peak of the parabola at local apparent noon, the least squares solution converged quickly, indicating that sufficient measurements had been taken. Although this method is unlikely to be used routinely for navigation at sea, it might be resorted to in special situations.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 35, Number 2
Pages:	289 - 294
Cite this article:	Severance, Robert W., "SMOOTHING A NOON SIGHT", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 35, No. 2, Summer 1988, pp. 289-294.
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