Celestial navigation glossary
Line of position (LOP)
A short stretch of a circle of equal altitude, drawn as a straight line: you are somewhere on it.
Where the course teaches it
Close up, the circle is a straight line, in the module The line of position. Turn Ho and Hc into a line of position, and plot it from your DR.
Taught alongside it
- Computed altitude (Hc)
- The altitude you would observe at a chosen position, from the tables or by calculation.
- Intercept
- Ho − Hc in minutes, which are miles: toward the GP if Ho is greater (“Ho Mo To”), away if smaller.
- Azimuth (Zn)
- The true bearing of the body, 000° to 360°: the intercept is drawn along it.