NEW TELESCOPIC SEXTANT
USE BY NAVIGATORS IN R.A.F.
(Rec. 10 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 15. Royal Air Force navigators are using a new sextant with a telescopic eyepiece enabling them to plot an aircraft’s position by the aid of the less prominent stars, says the aeronautical correspondent of “The Times.” Stars such as Polaris, which is about 464 light years away and which could previously be used for navigational purposes only under the most favourable conditions, can now be used with greater ease and improved accuracy, even in misty weather.
The new sextant has a twin-lens telescope, giving a magnification of two diameters. This reduces the field of view of the sky by half, but stars can be seen four times as brightly. The telescopic eyepiece is mounted alongside a standard one. The navigator locates a star through the normal eyepiece and then swings the telescopic one on to the position to obtain a reading.
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Bibliographic details
Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25084, 16 January 1947, Page 3
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154NEW TELESCOPIC SEXTANT Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25084, 16 January 1947, Page 3
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