I have an antique Keuffel and Esser transit which I got on e-Bay and is in near mint condition after 70 years of storage. The Optics are crystal clear and the original green factory grease is still on the threaded moving parts. I am not a surveyor but I like to dabble in these areas because I love fine instruments. This morning Jan 04/11, I was observing Polaris with the instrument from a place in my front yard and I noted that it seemed to reach the lower culmination around 07:14AM which was 11:14GMT
What my question is and I hope I don't sound too stupid asking this is how do I convert the published Time of Upper Culmination or TUC found in the Sun and Polaris Ephemerides into the exact time for my yard which is at Longitude 69Degrees 54Minutes 20.89Seconds West and for the lower culmination I saw this morning.
I thought I knew how to do this but I seem to be making a mistake somewhere which I cannot figure out so I thought I would ask you guys to help me out.
Since the above observation was real and quite accurate I should be able to check those numbers favorably with the ones in the ephemeris.
Thanks
John