At 07:52 AM 9/18/2006, TexasRF@aol.com wrote:
>
>Here is a golden opportunity for a talented computer programmer!


The US Navy has had such programs available for public use since about

1988.  First was "The Floppy Almanac" which was a navigation program

on a year-by-year basis.  A little "reverse engineering" could provide

the culmination of Polaris (the star, not the sub-launched missile)

with some ease.


Currently, ICE "Integrated Computerized Ephemeris" is available at 

about any decent marine dealer.  (West Marine has it)


ICE is essentially the same as the Floppy Almanac save that it is a 

multi-year program.  The one out now goes to 2050, I think.  Both 

programs operate under DOS so they don't crash.  And, since modern

computers are so fast, the iterations are done very quickly.  When I

started using the Floppy Almanac, I had a 386SX and I could take a 

"rest break" whilst the computer was running an iteration....HI!

The display below from another poster is similiar to the

output of "ICE."

73,

Tim Colbert  K3HX

You've already paid for it...
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/topocentric.html

Select PositionType: Apparent Topocentric Zenith Distance and Azimuth
Celestial Body of Interest: Polaris
Fill in the rest as appropriate, and it generates 
a nifty little table like this one:



    Date        Time                Zenith               Azimuth
         (UT1)                     Distance              (E of N)
              h  m   s              ?  '   "             ?  '   "
2006 Sep 18 15:46:00.0            55 49 03.8          359 10 23.9
2006 Sep 18 15:47:00.0            55 49 14.6          359 10 20.5
2006 Sep 18 15:48:00.0            55 49 25.4          359 10 17.2
2006 Sep 18 15:49:00.0            55 49 36.3          359 10 13.9
2006 Sep 18 15:50:00.0            55 49 47.1          359 10 10.7
2006 Sep 18 15:51:00.0            55 49 57.9          359 10 07.6
2006 Sep 18 15:52:00.0            55 50 08.8          359 10 04.5
2006 Sep 18 15:53:00.0            55 50 19.7          359 10 01.4
2006 Sep 18 15:54:00.0            55 50 30.6          359 09 58.4
2006 Sep 18 15:55:00.0            55 50 41.5          359 09 55.5
2006 Sep 18 15:56:00.0            55 50 52.4          359 09 52.6
2006 Sep 18 15:57:00.0            55 51 03.3          359 09 49.8
2006 Sep 18 15:58:00.0            55 51 14.2          359 09 47.1
2006 Sep 18 15:59:00.0            55 51 25.1          359 09 44.4
2006 Sep 18 16:00:00.0            55 51 36.1          359 09 41.7




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