You can observe the altitude of the sun by two methods. In the first method, you follow the sun just before it is about to cross the approximate meridian. In the second method, you set the line of sight of the transit in the plane of a known meridian and wait for the sun to cross the line of sight. At this instant take the reading of the vertical angle. In either method your main objective is to measure the suns altitude accurately. You should know the exact time so that you can compute the instant of local apparent noon. Then you will know exactly when you should be in the field to have everything ready just before the instant of observation.

If the instrument used is not a transit equipped with solar prism attachments, set the horizontal cross hair tangent to the lower edge of the suns disk. By the first method referred to above, when you are observing for maximum altitude, follow the sun until it no longer rises. The moment the sun starts going down, record the vertical angle and determine the index error. In the second method above, the setting of the suns disk is similar to the first method except that you get the reading at the instant the sun crosses your known meridian. In either method, you should correct the altitude observed in the field for index error, semidiameter, parallax, and refraction. You can eliminate index error in the second method by plunging the telescope and taking another reading as fast as possible.

The declination for the Greenwich time corresponding to the instant of local noon is taken from a table of the Nautical Almanac, the Solar Ephemeris, or The Ephemeris. The table for May 1985, taken from The Ephemeris, published by Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Department of Interior, and prepared by the Nautical Almanac office, U.S. Naval

Table 15-4.-Solar Ephemeris for May 1985

Observatory, is shown in table 15-4. The Solar Ephemeris is issued (on request) each year by major engineering instrument makers.

1. Accepting the observation as having been made at the meridian, record the local apparent time as 12^h.

2. Add the longitudinal equivalent time to obtain Greenwich apparent time (GAT).

3. Add or subtract the equation of time (true solar time minus local civil time) from GAT to obtain GMT (Greenwich mean time). The equation of time is given in the Solar Ephemeris or Nautical Almanac for the instant of O^h (midnight) daily at Greenwich for the whole year.

4. Correct the apparent declination for the date for the elapsed GMT from O".

5. In case the local standard time of the observation is recorded, find the GMT at once by simply adding the time zone difference. Then, after all the necessary corrections are made, substitute the value to one of the formulas enumerated above, analyzing carefully to see which formula is appropriate.

EXAMPLE: Suppose that on 28 May 1985 in the Northern Hemisphere, you obtained a corrected meridian altitude (h) of the sum of 6737'06" at longitude 8608W. The sun bears south of the observer. The computation to get the corrected declination is as follows:

Local apparent time  Longitudinal equivalent time Greenwich apparent time Equation of time Greenwich mean time (GMT) Declination at (table 15-4)

NOTE: 23.94" = Difference for 1 hour (table 15-4)

From the computation shown above, you see that the declination is positive, so it is a north declination.

The transit was pointed south, so this is a case in which the body observed was between the zenith and the equator. This is, then, a Case I situation, in which the latitude equals declination plus zenith distance (90 - 6737'06" or 222254"). Therefore, the latitude is equal to 213656.4" + 222254" or 4359'50.4"