The deal with shooting star sights is that you set the sextant altitude (angle) to the expected altitude of the star and then line it up with the horizon and point the sextant in the direction of the star (its azimuth). So for shooting Polaris you set the altitude to your latitude and point the sextant north. It should show up clearly in your viewfinder, which is magnified to compensate for old eyes. I wrote and article on taking Polaris sights for Cruising World a few years ago. It should be on line. Andy C&C 40 Peregrine
Andrew Burton 61 W Narragansett Newport, RI USA 02840 http://sites.google.com/site/andrewburtonyachtservices/ +401 965-5260 On Jan 28, 2013, at 4:10 PM, Wally Bryant <w...@wbryant.com> wrote: > Marek Dziedzic wrote: >> Obviously, this must be winter <snip> > > I was just thinking the same thing. It's better than cows or British Motor > Cars. > > Some older offshore sailors have said to me 'all you *really* need is > latitude, and you can get home from there.' That makes sense, if you think > about it. I don't think I could do a star sight anyway -- even on a clear > night I can only see a few stars. Getting older is a drag... I was really > looking forward to being a couple of hundred miles off shore and seeing the > stars without any interference from land lights, hoping to recapture the awe > I felt 30 years ago when sitting on a mountain top and looking up. > > I did go shopping on eBay for a good sextant, but didn't know enough to > differentiate between the real ones and the conversation pieces. Clearly, I > should have asked this list. > > Wal > > > > _______________________________________________ > This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album > http://www.cncphotoalbum.com > CnC-List@cnc-list.com _______________________________________________ This List is provided by the C&C Photo Album http://www.cncphotoalbum.com CnC-List@cnc-list.com
