Part II · First sights · Page 3 of 3
At any other time: the azimuth
Later in the course, reducing a sight with Pub. 249 (the intercept method) gives the Sun's true bearing at that moment, its azimuth Zn. Take a compass bearing of the Sun at the same time as the sight, and compare: the same rules give the error and the deviation. Keep a deviation card by heading, and check it whenever the Sun is low and the sea is calm.
A low Sun is best: a high one is hard to take a bearing of, and its bearing changes quickly.
Watch it in your own sky: pick "Daily path" and drag the Sun along it. Its bearing swings slowly near rising and setting and fastest around noon, when it is high; and in summer it rises and sets well north of east and west.
Azimuth
The true bearing of the body (Zn): the angle along your horizon, clockwise from north, to the point straight below the body. With the altitude it says exactly where to look; it is also the direction of the line from your position toward the ground position.
- Azimuth, Zn
- 265°
- Altitude
- 38°44.0'