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← HistoryWhich limitation affected 18th Century lunar distance calculations at sea when using a sextant under heavy pitch?
A)Inaccurate timekeeping led to drift
B)Celestial parallax reduced angle precision
C)Instrumental error affected horizon reckoning✓
D)Unavoidable optical abberations created false stars
💡 Explanation
Instrumental error from a pitching ship degrades horizon reckoning, because unstable instrument angle averages incorrectly. Therefore, navigation accuracy decreased significantly, rather than the calculations being affected by timekeeping, which influenced longitude determination, or optical limitations which manifest mostly from imperfections.
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