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← HistoryWhich navigational error increases when an 18th-century mariner misaligns a sextant's mirrors before celestial observation?
A)Systematic bearing deviation✓
B)Periodic tidal miscalculation
C)Random windage discrepancy
D)Cumulative longitudinal divergence
💡 Explanation
When sextant mirrors are misaligned, systematic angular errors occur because the reflected light deviates consistently from the true angle, compounding with each measurement. Therefore, bearing deviations result, rather than tidal issues, windage scatter or longitude drift which are unrelated to sextant alignment.
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