Grijs, Richard de (Author)
Longitude determination at sea gained increasing commercial importance in the late Middle Ages, spawned by a commensurate increase in long-distance merchant shipping activity. Prior to the successful development of an accurate marine timepiece in the late-eighteenth century, marine navigators relied predominantly on the Moon for their time and longitude determinations. Lunar eclipses had been used for relative position determinations since Antiquity, but their rare occurrences precludes their routine use as reliable way markers. Measuring lunar distances, using the projected positions on the sky of the Moon and bright reference objects—the Sun or one or more bright stars—became the method of choice. It gained in profile and importance through the British Board of Longitude's endorsement in 1765 of the establishment of a Nautical Almanac. Numerous 'projectors' jumped onto the bandwagon, leading to a proliferation of lunar ephemeris tables. Chronometers became both more affordable and more commonplace by the mid-nineteenth century, signaling the beginning of the end for the lunar distance method as a means to determine one's longitude at sea.
...More
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2022)
Historical Chinese efforts to determine longitude at sea
(/isis/citation/CBB403328137/)
Article
Roger Kinns;
(2017)
The time light signals of New Zealand: yet another way of communicating time in the pre-wireless era
(/isis/citation/CBB586228966/)
Article
P. Kenneth Seidelmann;
(2019)
A history of Western astronomical almanacs
(/isis/citation/CBB140947841/)
Article
Roger Kinns;
(2017)
The principal time balls of New Zealand
(/isis/citation/CBB637752410/)
Article
Suzanne Débarbat;
(2019)
Picard, La Hire et le Royaume de Louis XIV
(/isis/citation/CBB248232410/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
Andrew P. Jacob;
(2021)
William Dawes: practical astronomy on the ‘First Fleet’ from England to Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB079817226/)
Article
Boistel, Guy;
(2006)
De quelle précision a-t-on réellement besoin en mer ? Quelques aspects de la diffusion des méthodes de détermination astronomique et chronométrique des longitudes en mer en France, de Lacaille à Mouchez (1750--1880)
(/isis/citation/CBB000931360/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2022)
Gravitational conundrum: confusing clock-rate measurements on the 'First Fleet' from England to Australia
(/isis/citation/CBB833174557/)
Article
Wayne Orchiston;
William Wells;
(2020)
Cook's third voyage to the Pacific and early scientific astronomy on the north-western coast of America: the sojourn at Nootka Sound in April 1778
(/isis/citation/CBB034146345/)
Article
Pérez Rodríguez, Uxío;
Álvarez Lires, María;
Serrallé Marzoa, José Francisco;
(2010)
Frei Martín Sarmiento e a determinación da lonxitude xeográfica en alta mar
(/isis/citation/CBB001033789/)
Book
Jullien, Vincent;
(2002)
Le calcul des longitudes: Un enjeu pour les mathématiques, l'astronomie, la mesure du temps et la navigation
(/isis/citation/CBB000400013/)
Book
Kollerstrom, Nicholas;
(2000)
Newton's Forgotten Lunar Theory: His Contribution to the Quest for Longitude
(/isis/citation/CBB000111522/)
Book
Cornelis Schilt;
(2021)
Isaac Newton and the Study of Chronology: Prophecy, History, and Method
(/isis/citation/CBB068541582/)
Book
Richard de Grijs;
(2017)
Time and Time Again: Determination of Longitude at Sea in the 17th Century
(/isis/citation/CBB403109360/)
Article
Meropi Morfouli;
(2022)
Galileo Galilei, le « mesureur du temps » et les longitudes: Une interprétation nouvelle de l’instrument proposé par Galilée en 1637
(/isis/citation/CBB441230046/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2020)
European longitude prizes. I: longitude determination in the Spanish empire
(/isis/citation/CBB234105195/)
Article
Richard de Grijs;
(2021)
European longitude prizes. 2: Astronomy, religion and engineering solutions in the Dutch Republic
(/isis/citation/CBB810066516/)
Article
Alexandra Edwards;
Barthelemy d'Ans;
Edmundo Edwards;
(2018)
Consolidation of the Rapanui Astronomy Concept Inventory and Re-Appraisal of Applied Astronomic Observation at Papa UI Hetu’U, Rapa Nui
(/isis/citation/CBB185478721/)
Article
Kershaw, Michael;
(2014)
“A thorn in the side of European geodesy”: Measuring Paris-Greenwich Longitude by Electric Telegraph
(/isis/citation/CBB001202239/)
Article
Steele, J. M.;
(2007)
Celestial Measurement in Babylonian Astronomy
(/isis/citation/CBB000772410/)
Be the first to comment!