Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-4rdrl Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-02T17:49:13.035Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

A Nocturnal

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  23 November 2009

Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Investigation into the design and accuracy of old-time instruments is always of interest. The Nocturnal probably used from the sixteenth century onwards for estimating the approximate local time at night is well known; with this primitive instrument the Pole Star was viewed through a central hole in a pair of wooden or brass discs. A pivoted arm turned to coincide with the ‘Guards’ of the Lesser Bear, the local time being deduced from an engraved scale. A seventeenthcentury improvement included an extra scale for determining the time by aligning the pointer with the Great Bear ‘Pointers’.

Type
Forum
Copyright
Copyright © The Royal Institute of Navigation 1975

References

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cotter, C. H. (1967). A History of Nautical Astronomy.Google Scholar
Taylor, E. G. R. and Richey, M. W. (1962). The Geometrical Seaman.Google Scholar