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You will need to know the date, in order to look up (or calculate) the declination of the Sun, which is its position north or south of the equator. You can look this up in the Nautical Almanac or it can be calculated. See link below. It is also essential that your watch or chronometer be set EXACTLY to the correct time. It's helpful to have your watch set to GMT or Greenwich Mean Time. That way, you don't have to figure out your time zone.
On the Equinox dates - about March 21 and September 21 (plus or minus one day because of the cycle of leap years) - the Sun's declination is zero. On June 21, the Summer Solstice, the declination is 23 degrees, 26 minutes 22seconds north, and on December 21 it is the same distance south of the equator.
You also must measure the elevation of the Sun not at 12:00PM according to your watch, but at the "local apparent noon", the time when the Sun reaches its maximum elevation in the sky.
Your latitude is 90 - (the angle of the Sun) - (declination). Today is September 1, 2009. I will measure Sun's elevation at the Local Apparent Noon or "LAN".
(By the way, I will note the exact time of LAN on my watch, set to GMT. I will look up, in the Nautical Almanac, the "GHA" or Greenwich Hour Angle and I will be able to interpolate between the published numbers and find my exact longitude as well as the latitude.)
Let's say that I measure the LAN elevation and note that the elevation is 55 degrees at 17:28 GMT. (I need to measure this to the precise SECOND for real accuracy.) I can go into the Nautical Alamanac and note that at 17:00 the GHA is 75 degrees 1.6 minutes and at 18:00 the GHA is 90 degrees 1.8 minutes. The Sun travels at 15 degrees per hour or 4 minutes per degree. So at 17:28 precisely, the GHA was 82 degrees 1.7 minutes.
So the declination of the Sun was about 8 degrees, 2.5 minutes North. If the Sun was at EXACTLY 55 degrees above the horizon at LAN on 9/1/09, then my latitude is 90 - 55 - 8 degrees 1.5 minutes, or 26 degrees 58.5 minutes north. So my position is 26 degrees 58.5 minutes north, 82 degrees 1.7 minutes West. In other words, I'm just east of Port Charlotte, Florida. I'll need to be careful about the alligators!
There are two things you will need to do celestial navigation. One is a good sextant, which is the tool you use to measure the angle of the Sun above the horizon. The second is a VERY accurate watch. If your watch is off by a minute, your position will be off by at least a quarter-mile.
In the old days of sailing ships, clocks were chancy at best; after all, you couldn't use a pendulum clock aboard a bobbing ship at sea! It isn't surprising that the British Admiralty offered a fortune to the inventor who could build a clock that could keep time at sea.
What else can I help you with?
How many degrees did the angle of noon?
Noon is when the sun is overhead or at its zenith for whichever part of the world you are on. The angle would depend on the time of year and your latitude.
Is the sun particularly high in the sky at noon if it lies 63 degrees above the observer's horizon?
It is not particularly high but it may be the highest that it can get - depending on the observer's latitude.
About how long is a shadow of an 80 ft tall oak tree if the angle of the sun is 40 degrees?
It depends on the angle of depression of the sun. The answer would be 80ft * tan(90-angle of depression) At a depression angle of 40 degrees, the shadow would be 80 * tan (50) which equals 95.340ft
How long is the shadow cast by a 21 foot tree?
The answer depends on the angle of the sun. That will depend on the time of day, latitude and the season.
How do you find the Angle Of Sun When Tree Is 6.25m And The Shadow Is 10.1m Long?
Use the tangent angle of elevation which works out as 31.7497 degrees to four decimal places
What is angle of the noon sun at latitude 35 degrees N on Dec 212017?
It is 58.4 degrees.
From latitude 35 what is the highest altitude above the noon sun?
At latitude 35 degrees, the highest altitude above the noon sun would be 55 degrees. This is because the sun's angle from the zenith at noon is equal to 90 degrees minus the observer's latitude.
How many degrees did the angle of noon?
Noon is when the sun is overhead or at its zenith for whichever part of the world you are on. The angle would depend on the time of year and your latitude.
How many degrees latitude will the sun be at noon during Fall Equinox 2008?
At the equinox, the Sun will be directly above the equator, 0 degrees latitude.
What time is the sun's angle 63.9?
We can't figure that out from the information provided. The only thing we can say for certain is that your latitude is no greater than 40.4 degrees north or south. If that's your latitude, then this can only happen at Local Apparent Noon, when the Sun is highest in the sky.
What is the lowest the sun can ever be in the sky at local noon at latitude 6 degrees 34 minutes north?
The lowest the sun can ever be in the sky at local noon at latitude 6 degrees 34 minutes north is approximately 145 million kilometres.
What latitude is the Sun directly overhead at noon on Halloween?
The Sun is directly overhead the same latitude at noon every day. It is over the equator at 0 degrees. Just because it is Halloween doesn't change anything.
What angle will the suns rays most directly hit the earth?
the equater A+ 90 degrees
At which latitude would you expect the sun to be directly overhead at noon on April 21?
On April 21st, the sun is directly overhead at noon at the Tropic of Cancer, which is approximately at 23.5 degrees North latitude.
What is the summer sun angle in Houston?
The summer sun angle in Houston, Texas, typically ranges from 50 to 70 degrees at midday. This means the sun is higher in the sky during the summer months, leading to longer daylight hours and more direct sunlight.
Which latitude would you expect the sun to be directly overhead at noon on April 21?
8 degrees north
What latitude for Arnold is the sun directly overhead at noon on the equinox and solstice?
There is no latitude on earth at which the sun would be directly overhead at noon on the equinox and the solstice.
