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← HistoryWhich navigational outcome occurs when temperature gradients distort sextant mirror alignment during daytime?
A)Increased magnetic declination error
B)Reduced celestial horizon visibility
C)Parallax error due to instrument angle
D)Systematic altitude measurement errors✓
💡 Explanation
When temperature gradients distort the mirror, thermal expansion causes slight misalignment, leading to systematic angular errors because sextants rely on precise mirror parallelism to accurately measure angles. Therefore altitude errors result, rather than declination, horizon issues, or parallax which involve completely different failure mechanisms and principles.
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