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← HistoryWhich error is magnified when a 18th-century navigators' sextant mirror axis isn't perfectly perpendicular to the instrument's plane?
A)Inaccurate longitude calculations at moonrise
B)Cyclical error in celestial body angles✓
C)Underestimated ship speed calculation
D)Overestimated latitude near the equator
💡 Explanation
When the sextant mirror axis isn't perpendicular, perpendicularity error introduces a cyclical error, because the measured angle varies as celestial bodies move across the sky systematically. The cyclical error results, rather than location specific date, biased speed, or specific latitude calculation which depend on unrelated navigational principles.
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