Article appeared in:

ION Newsletter, The Institute of Navigation, Volumen 14, Number 1 (spring 2004)
The Lunar Distance Method. http://www.ion.org/newsletter/v14n1.pdf

Authorized copy by ION to Navigational Algorithms

 CALENDAR
Portneys Corner
SEPTEMBER 2004
You can Find More of Portneys 2124: ION GNSS 2004, Long
Ponderables and Brain Teasers Beach California
Joe Portney Contact: The ION
at www.navworld.com Tel: +1 703-383-9688
Fax: +1 703-383-9689
Web: www.ion.org

OCTOBER 2004
05-06: International
Symposium on Precision
Approach and Automatic
Landing, Munich, Germany
Contact: German Institute of
Navigation
Tel: +49-228-20197.0
Fax: +49-228-20197.19
E-mail: [email protected]

25-27: ILA Convention

and Technical Symposium,
Takanawa Prince Hotel, Tokyo,
Japan
Contact: ILA
Tel: +1-805-967-8649
Fax: +1-805-967-8471
E-mail: [email protected]

The Lunar
JANUARY 2005
2426: ION National Technical
Meeting, San Diego, California
Contact: The ION

Distance Method
Tel: +1 703-383-9688
Fax: +1 703-383-9689
Web: www.ion.org

MAY 2005
23-25: The 12th St. Petersburg
B efore GPS and chronometers, we depended on lunar distances. Longitude
can be determined using the Lunar Distance Method without using a chro-
nometer. The method became practical in the late 1700s and was used until the
International Conference
on Integrated Navigation
Systems, St. Petersburg, Russia
early 1900s. By the late 1700s, the mathematics of spherical trigonometry was Contact: Dr. George T. Schmidt
well established, and the ephemerides of the sun and moon could be calcu- Tel: +1 617-258-3841
e-mail: [email protected]
lated to sufficient accuracy for practical longitude determination.
Web: www.elektropribor.spb.ru
The moon loses a full circle to the sun in about 29.5 days. The angle
between the sun and moon acts like the hands of a giant clock with the angle JUNE 2005
changing roughly 30.5 seconds of arc in a minute of time. If the positions 27-29: The ION 61st. Annual
of the sun and moon could be predicted well enough in advance, the angle Meeting; Royal Sonesta Hotel,
between the sun and the moon (the lunar distance) could be tabulated as a Cambridge, Massachusetts
Contact: The ION
function of Greenwich Mean Time (GMT). The sun and moon could serve as
Tel: +1 703-383-9688
an astronomical clock. Fax: +1 703-383-9689
Web: www.ion.org
Portney continued on page 14

IO N Ne w s l e t t e r 5 S p r i ng 2 0 0 4
Portneys Corner continued from page 5
In practice, the lunar distance method involved taking three 3. Apparent distance d' between the bright limbs of the sun
sextant observations: (1) the altitude of the moon above the hori- and the moon
zon, (2) the altitude of the sun above the horizon, and (3) the
angular distance between the sun and the moon. Spherical trigo- A spherical triangle is solved mainly to remove the effects of
nometric calculations were performed to compensate the measured parallax and refraction error from the apparent lunar distance
lunar distance for refraction error and parallax error. Once the true measurement. (See Figure 2.)
lunar distance was determined, GMT could be determined by inter-
polating in tables of lunar distance versus GMT. Once GMT was
known, other tables could be read to determine the declination and Figure 2.
Greenwich Hour Angle (GHA) of the sun and moon. Given that
the latitude was known, another spherical triangle could be solved
for the Local Hour Angle (LHA) of the sun. The longitude followed
from the relationship shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

Let h'= 90 ZM': Apparent Altitude of Moons Center

Corrected for Dip
Let H' = 90 ZS': Apparent Altitude of Suns Center
Corrected for Dip
Let d' = Apparent distance between Moon and Suns
Center

Corrections for refraction and parallax occur in altitude. After

correcting the observed altitudes for these effects, we get:
The declination and GHA of the sun and moon would be known
from the almanac. Two sides and the included angle are known in h = 90 ZM: Moons true altitude
the spherical triangle. One solves for the third side d using the law H = 90 ZS: Suns true altitude
of cosines for spherical triangles. After some simplifications, the
result is: We then need to calculate the side SM, the true lunar distance
d. The key to this calculation is the fact that the parallax and
cos(d) = sin(DECsun) sin(DECmoon) + refraction corrections are in altitude only and do not alter the
cos(DECsun) cos(DECmoon) cos(GHAsun GHAmoon) included angle z in the triangles. The angle z is common to the
spherical triangles ZS'M' and ZSM.
Tables of lunar distances were published up until the early 1900s One procedure which is practical with modern computers is to
(Figure 4). Today, a user would have to prepare the tables himself use the law of cosines for spherical triangles to solve the triangle
from the declinations and GHA of the sun and moon using spheri- ZS'M' for cos(z):
cal trigonometry.
This is not difficult with modern computers, but is an extremely cos(d') = sin(h') sin(H') + cos(h') cos(H') cos(z)
laborious task if done by hand.
The rest of the terms in the above equation are known from sex-
The observed lunar distance is calculated from the results of tant observations corrected for dip and apparent center effects. Then
three sextant observations, ideally made simultaneously: the triangle ZSM can be solved for the true lunar distance:
1. Altitude of the lower limb of the sun
2. Altitude of the lower limb of the moon cos(d) = sin(h) sin(H) + cos(h) cos(H) cos(z)
IO N Ne w s l e t t e r 14 S p r i ng 2 0 0 4
 All the terms on the right hand side of this equation are known. References
H and h are known from measured altitudes corrected for parallax Siebren Y. Van Der Werf, The Lunar Distance Method in the
and refraction. Cos(z) was obtained from the triangle ZS'M'. Nineteenth Century: A Simulation of Joshua Slocums Observation
In olden days, more elaborate procedures were used which were on June 16, 1896, Navigation, Journal of the Institude of
easier to use with tables and hand calculations. Navigation, Vol 44, No 1., Spring 1997.
Stanley W. Gery, The Direct Fix of Latitude and Longitude from
Once the true lunar distance d is obtained, one can interpo- Two Observed Altitudes, Navigation, Journal of the Institute of
late in tables of lunar distance versus GMT to find the Greenwich Navigation, Vol. 44, No. 1, Spring 1997.
Mean Time. This time could be used to calibrate a chronometer.
Alternatively, if latitude is known, spherical trigonometry can be We are indebted to David F. Hartman the author of this
used to find the Local Hour Angle (LHA) of the sun. paper entitled The Lunar Distance Method. Mr. Hartman
If GMT is known, one can look in tables to find the declination is employed at ATK Missile Systems Company in Woodland
and Greenwich Hour Angles (GHA) of the sun and moon. (See Hills, Ca. A copy of an extract of the first systematic tabula-
Figure 4.) tion of lunar distances is shown in Figure 4. It was published
This triangle can be solved for LHA of the Sun once the GMT is by Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royale of the Greenwich
known. The Altitude of the Sun H is known from corrected sextant Observatory.
observations.

Figure 3. Figure 4.

sin(H) = sin(DECsun) sin(latitude) + cos(DECsun)

cos(latitude) cos(LHA)

Once the LHA of the sun is determined, longitude follows from

the relationship:

Longitude = GHAsun LHAsun

Similar calculations could be carried out for the moon as a

check.
Accurate chronometers were developed by John Harrison
around 1759 and by French Clockmaker Berthoud a few years
later. Longitude could be determined using a chronometer with
much less calculation than the lunar distance method. The Lunar
distance method did see some use in the 1800s as an alternative to
chronometers, and a way to recover time if a chronometer were not
available.
IO N Ne w s l e t t e r 15 S p r i ng 2 0 0 4