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by SoftTalker 768 days ago
Yeah I get that it's important, I just didn't realize that angles could be meaured so accurately by eye at that time (especially on a ship that's moving around on even a moderate sea).
1 comments

> I just didn't realize that angles could be meaured so accurately by eye at that time

Sextants have a bit of magnification (usually 4x, but sometimes 7x or higher). Higher mag allows for better accuracy at the cost of more shaking of the view.

Basic explanation:

* https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30_wEda3ltM