Abstract
THE main purpose of these tables is to facilitate the determination of the position line from an observation of any heavenly body and to eliminate, practically, the chance of errors of computation in the result. When the idea occurred to the Rev. F. Ball he consulted the Astronomer Royal, who consented to the employment of several of the Greenwich computers on the work, under the direction of Mr. Crommelin; the accuracy of the tables is therefore beyond suspicion. The tables are computed for intervals of every four minutes between latitudes 31° and 60° and parallels of declination 0° and 24°, and they enable the observer to determine the position line at all hour angles without having to solve any spherical triangle. This does away with the necessity for logarithmic computations, and so the probability of errors is eliminated. For altitudes less than 70° it is expected that the tables will give results accurate within 12″; for greater altitudes their use is not recommended. The author hopes soon to publish a companion volume for latitudes 0° to 30°.
Altitude Tables.
Computed for Intervals of Four Minutes between the Parallels of Latitude 31° and 60° and Parallels of Declination of 0° and 24°, designed for the Determination of the Position Line at all Hour Angles without Logarithmic Computation. By F. Ball. Pp. xxxii + 241. (London: J. D Potter, 1907.) Price 15s net.
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Altitude Tables . Nature 77, 365 (1908). https://doi.org/10.1038/077365a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/077365a0