Answer
1—Ten
meters represents one-millionth the distance between the
Earth’s equator and poles—90° of latitude either way.
A sextant would have to be accurate to 90°/106,
or about 0.324 arc second in order to achieve 10 m of
position accuracy.
Similarly,
for longitude, 10 m represents one part in 4 million of
one rotation of the Earth (at the equator). A chronometer
would have to be accurate to:
or
approximately 0.0216 s.
Contributor: David Tweed
Published
March 2004
