Lost at Sea
Calculating Latitude
The previous animation demonstrated that in order to find your latitude, you must first know the;
ZENITH DISTANCE - the angle the sun is from directly overhead and the;
DECLINATION - the latitude where the sun would be directly overhead at that time.
The zenith distance is indirectly found using a sextant.
The declination is found by looking up special tables called the Nautical Almanac.
View the Nautical Almanac tables for today's date.
Read the tables to find the angle called the Declination (Dec) of the sun, you will find this halfway down the page. Reading the tables is done by finding the GMT for noon today and reading across the table until you hit the Sun “Dec” column. However, your ship is not in New Zealand waters, but if your watch is set on GMT, at noon, your watch would say 1:00 hrs (1am) GMT.
Veiw the Latitude animation again.
Use the declination you found from the tables and the formula in the animation to calculate your latitude.