How To Use A Sextant Pdf
This sextant has a number of features 1 a handle for ease of use and legs to lay flat in a stable position.
How to use a sextant pdf. Developed for use at night when no horizon was visible the recording sextant used no reflecting mirror. Sight the horizon by looking through the horizon mirror then move the sextants index arm until the object youre trying to find is also visible on the horizon. Since all calculations in the navigation tables use the center of the. Since all calculations in the navigation tables use.
It is ironi c and perhaps fitting that the final form of the sextant was not a sextant at all but a much earlier ancestor the true quadrant. In fact it has been known so long that much of it has been forgotten. Evolution of the sextant culminated in the invention of the ball recording sextant. Rock the entire sextant from side to side so that the suns image travels in a half arc.
Set the sextant to 00. The manual that came with your sextant tells how to set it up and take a reading. The sextant described looks like the picture below when youve finished it. The best references on the use of sextants are usually the very old ones.
The picture was from a 3d model of the sextant created by rod cantrill in brisbane australia. Now adjust the index arm to bring the suns image down to just touch the horizon fig. Then use the adjustment screws to ensure that the actual horizon is level with the horizon in the mirror. Being careful not to disturb the setting read the suns altitude from the scales on the sextant.
Clamp the index arm in place with the flip lock then turn the micrometer knob to fine tune the sextant so the. Being careful not to disturb the setting read the suns altitude from the scales on the sextant. Iv how to use plastic sextants acknowledgements most of the basic matters of sextant use have been known for two hundred years. The important parts are these.
To use a sextant to find the angle of elevation of an object youll need to know your elevation above sea level. Rock the entire sextant from side to side so that the suns image travels in a half arc.