'Tables Requisite to be used with the Astronomical and Nautical Ephemeris', bound with 'A Table of Proportional Logarithms' (1766)

[MASKELYNE, NEVIL]

Published by by Order of the Commissioners of Longitude, London, 1766

Tables Requite to be used with the Astronomical and Nautical Ephemeris, published by Order of the Commissioners of Longitude. Printed by W. Richardson and S. Clark; and sold by J. Nourse, Bookseller to his Majesty, in the Strand and Mess. Mount and Page, on Towerhill, 1766. 67 pages, -- bound with: A Table of Proportional Logarithms; To be used with the Astronomical and Nautical Ephemeris, J. Nourse, 1766;, 40 pages of Proportional Logarithms -- Explication and use of the Tables Requite to be used with the Astronomical and Nautical Ephemeris, [129]-162, [iv]pp., (2 index, 1 Errata, 1 Addition; -- plus 2 large fold-outs: Table I For Refraction, by Mr. Lyons, 2nd fold-out: Table II and III For Refraction, by Mr. Lyons, Table IV For Parallax, by Mr. Lyons, Rebound in 3/4 leather and marbled boards, small stamp of Glasgow Universities on bottom of first table, pages in very good condition, paper slightly browned, very occasional spotting. The two fold-outs are undamaged. --- Successful long-distance navigation depends on knowing latitude and longitude, and the determination of longitude depends on knowing the exact time at some fixed point on the earth's surface. Since Newton it had been hoped that a method based on accurate prediction of the moon's orbit would give such a time. Building on the work of Euler, Thomas Mayer and others, the astronomer and mathematician Nevil Maskelyne (1732-1811) was able to devise such a method and yearly publication of the Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris placed it in the hands of every ship's captain. The development of rugged and accurate chronometers eventually displaced Maskelyne's method, but navigators continued to make use of it for many decades. Titles of some of the tables: TABLE I - The Refractions of the Heavenly Bodies in Altitude TABLE II - Depression or Dip of the Horizon of the Sea TABLE III - The Sun's Parallax in Altitude TABLE IV - Augmentation of the Moon's Semidiameter TABLE V - Dip of the Sea at different Distances from the Observer TABLE VI - For reducing the Sun's Declination, as given in the Nautical Almanac for Noon at Greenwich, to any other Time under that Meridian; or to Noon under any other Meridian TABLE VII - The Right Ascensions and Declinations of the principal Fixed Stars of the First and Second Magnitudes, adapted to the Beginning of the Year 1796, with their annual Variations TABLE VIII - For reducing the Apparent Altitude of the Moon to the true TABLE IX - Logarithms for readily computing the true Distance of the Moon from the Sun or a Fixed Star TABLE X - Numbers to be subtracted from the Logarithms in Table IX, when the Moon's Distance from the Sun is observed TABLE XI - Numbers to be subtracted from the Logarithms in Table IX, when the Moon's Distance from a Star is observed TABLE XII - The Moon's Parallax in Altitude continues to table XXX, followed by: THE EXPLANATION AND USE OF THE TABLES GENERAL INTRODUCTION; concerning the Instruments and Observations GENERAL INTRODUCTION; concerning the Instruments and Observations Explanation of the Tables PROBLEM I - To find the Latitude of a Ship at Sea, from the Observed Meridional Altitude of the Sun's Limb continues to Problem VIII. Rebound in 3/4 leather and marbled boards. Seller Inventory # 1766SS

Bibliographic Details

Title: 'Tables Requisite to be used with the ...
Publisher: by Order of the Commissioners of Longitude, London
Publication Date: 1766
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: very good