Astronomical Azimuth Determination by Lunar Observations

Abstract

The moon is the brightest celestial body in the night sky, and it is of some value when determining the astronomical azimuth on a cloudy or foggy night or in a light-polluted city when there is no visible star. Based on the edge observations of the apparent moon using a total station, a global positioning system (GPS) receiver, a portable computer, and some appropriate software and instrumentation, an innovative method for determining the center of the apparent moon, is discussed in this paper, and calculation formulas are deduced in detail. Second, errors in the astronomical azimuth determination are quantitatively analyzed. Finally, two practical tests are performed in the central plains of China, and the results indicate that the difference between azimuth determination by Polaris and the moon is up to 7″ from two field tests.