Mazaev's Method

(method of equal altitudes) a method of joint determination of geographic latitude and correction of a clock from observations of a number of stars (from four to 16) at the same zenith distance but different azimuths. The idea for the method was expressed by K. Gauss. The Soviet geodesist A. V. Mazaev developed the method for observations by means of a theodolite and a zenith telescope. The observations consist in chronometric recording of the moments at which stars pass through the horizontal lines of a grid in the field of vision of a telescope and in the reading of a reference level. Observations are processed by the method of least squares.