FIXES, AND HOW TO GET OUT OF THEM

Commander H. W. Dusinberre

Peer Reviewed

Abstract:	Star sights, if taken properly, should plot in a pinpoint fix. Often they do not. Take, for example, the plot of stars shown in Figure 1. The geometricians say that the ship’s position is somewhere near point A. With indeterminate errors which may put any one line of position out of place either direction, the most probable position is a kind of median position, mathematically proved. However, the geometricians can be as much as ten miles out by such assumptions. Acceptance of point A as the position for the ship requires the acceptance of about 1’ error in each sight. No navigator of reputation will knowingly accept such an assumption. Surely, the stars can be depended upon to be in their proper places in the heavens, and the horizon was distinct. If the sextant is so loose that errors of -C 1’ are present, the sextant needs either repair or replacement.
Published in:	NAVIGATION: Journal of the Institute of Navigation, Volume 3, Number 9
Pages:	339 - 340
Cite this article:	Dusinberre, Commander H. W., "FIXES, AND HOW TO GET OUT OF THEM", NAVIGATION: Journal of The Institute of Navigation, Vol. 3, No. 9, 1953, pp. 339-340.
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