Question:

On 15 November 1981, your 0913 zone time fix gives you a position of LAT 22°30.0' N,
LONG 68°28.0' W. Your vessel is on course 164° T, and your speed is 13.5 knots. Local
apparent noon (LAN) occurs at 1118 zone time at which time a meridian altitude of the
Sun's lower limb is observed. The observed altitude (Ho) for this sight is 49°46.0'. What
is the calculated latitude at LAN?
Answer: 21°39.3' N

Solution

Step 1: Write down the “givens”:

15-Nov-81
Lat Long
0913: 22 30.0 N 68 28.0 ’ W
o ’ o

Course: 164 o T
Speed: 13.5 Kts Beware of Distracters. Initial Time, Initial Lat, Course
and Speed are not needed, because you already have
obtained your sight at LAN.

Step 2: Get the GMT:

To obtain ZD (Zone Discipline):
ZTime: 15-Nov 11 18 Long 68.47 / 15 = 4.56
ZD: + 05 00 Go to the nearest whole hour.
GMT: 15-Nov 16 18 (Remember: 10.47 = 10h, not 11h, and 10.50 = 11h)

Step 3: Declination Sun at LAN:

Decl: 18 o 34.5 ’ S
Incr d=0.6 + 0.2 ’
-------------- Important: You have been given Ho (Observed Alt),
Decl: 18 o 34.7 ’ S which is the final corrected Altitude. So no more
corrections are necessary.
Note: If you were given Hs, which is your Sextant
Alt, then you would have to make corrections to get
Step 4: To obtain Latitude: your Ho.

Ho: 49 o 46.0 ’ ZD (Zenith Distance) = 90-Ho

ZD: 40 o 14.0 ’ N Remember, ZD always takes the name of Latitude.
Decl: 18 o 34.7 ’ S
-------------- SAME names SUM, DIFFERENT names DIFFERENCE!
Lat: 21 o 39.3 ’ N Lat always takes the name of ZD!

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