Celestial Navigation
Last Updated
07/20/2008
Chronometer | Sextant | Almanacs | Sight Reduction | Plotting
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| Learning Celestial DVD
| Learning Celestial HO 249 |
| Learning
Celestial HO 229 | A New Player in
the Game
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Despite the popularity of GPS, many mariners still want to be able to find their way
around the oceans by observations of the sun, moon, planets, and stars. In order to do
celestial navigation, you will need a chronometer, a sextant, an almanac, a
sight-reduction method, plotting sheets and tools, and of course, the skills.
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Longitude by Dava Sobel.
The lack of accurate timepieces held back navigation for many centuries,
until John Harrison invented the marine chronometer in the mid-18th
century. Here is a fascinating, highly readable account of this bit of
nautical history
Penguin Books paperback, $13.00 T13827
Walker hardbound edition, $19.00
T12706. |
Today, accurate time is no problem at all. A
digital quartz wristwatch will do if it has good clear numerals (especially
for the seconds), 24-hour function, and date function, and if you track its
performance for a few weeks in order to find its rate of gain or loss.
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The Sextant Handbook, by Bruce Bauer 2nd ed., 1992. International
Marine Publishing. This is the book to read before you invest in a sextant, for
information on "adjustment, repair, use and history," as well as a useful
unbiased buyer's guide. 189 pages, paperback. $15.95 T12225
Although people have crossed oceans using only a plastic sextant, it is easier to learn
and results are more reliable when you use a professional metal-framed instrument. For
over ten years we have been recommending the Astra and have received nothing but good
reports from our blue-water customers. (The Astra is referred to in Bauer's book as the
"Guangzhow.")
The Astra's frame is rigid and stable, with just the right heft, and the optics are big
and bright. The cost is only a fraction of Plath's and Tamaya's. For a complete
description, options, and accessories list, please give us a call.
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Astra IIIB Deluxe Sextant with whole-horizon mirror, 3.5 x 40mm monocular
telescope, 56mm x 42mm index mirror, and varnished wooden case. $575.00
T10624 |
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Nautical Almanac
published jointly by the Royal Observatory in Greenwich and the Naval
Observatory in Washington. This is the standard book. Year 2008
$45.00 T14310
Commercial Edition published jointly by Paradise Cay and Celestaire,
copied from the Nautical Almanac. Because it adds a few pages of
advertisements, the price is much lower. Year 2008
$25.00 T7387
The Nautical Almanac for the Year 1981 from Marine Education Textbooks. A
complete reprint for license preparation.
$48.00 T5698
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There are many ways to convert your observations and coordinates into a line of
position. The two most used methods are HO229 and HO249, tables of pre-computed altitudes
and azimuths. You can also use the very compact tables in the Nautical Almanac, or
the cosine-versine tables in Reeds. With a pocket calculator that includes basic
trig functions (sine and cosine) you can forego tables.
Pub. No. 229 Sight Reduction Tables for Marine Navigation.
These are the
only tables allowed in the Coast Guard exam centers. Six volumes, fifteen degrees of
latitude each. Volume 2 (Latitude 15-30) is the one used in texts and exams.
$19.95 Each.
- Vol. 1 Latitudes 0-15 T17305
- Vol. 2 Latitude 15-30 T17306
- Vol. 3 Latitude 30-45 T17307
- Vol. 4 Latitude 45-60 T17308
- Vol. 5 Latitudes 60-75 T6307
- Vol. 6 Latitudes 75-90 T6308
Pub. No. 249 Sight reduction Tables for Air Navigation.
These are the
yachtsman's favorite, smaller, cheaper and easier than HO 229, although not quite as
precise. Don't be fooled by the word "air," they are equally effective at the
sea surface. Volume 1 is strictly for stars, Volumes 2 and 3 for sun, moon, and planets.
$19.95
each.
- Vol. 1 Selected Stars T16656
- Vol. 2 Latitudes 0-40 T16657
- Vol. 3 Latitudes 39-89 T16658
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Course Plotter Weems & Plath #133. With 20
miles per inch scale matching the VP-OS Universal Plotting Sheets.
$11.00 T3152
VP-0S Universal Plotting Sheets. 20 miles per inch. Good for any
latitude. Clutter-free skeleton maps for plotting DR track and lines of position. Pad of
50 14 x13 sheets.
$4.95 T730
DMA Position Plotting Sheets. Large (35 x
46) single-sheet, latitude-specific plotting sheets. Prices are
$5.75 per sheet. They are available for any latitude belt up to 78
degrees. Here are the most often asked for:
DMA 923, Latitude 17-24.
DMA 924, Latitude 23-30.
DMA 925, Latitude 29-36.
DMA 926, Latitude 35-41.
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Celestial Navigation Simplified,
by William F. Buckley Jr. An enjoyable way to learn. Buckley, working
primarily with the sun sight, gives you his own step-by-step
procedure. Enhanced by excellent computer graphics. 48 minutes
$29.95 T16950 |
HO 249
Bruce Bauer's Sextant Handbook has an entire chapter on Sighting Techniques. To
learn what to do after taking the sight, here are a video and three small paperbacks
suited to the yachtsman learning HO 249:
How to Navigate Today by Leonard Gray, based on the original edition by
Marion Rice Hart. Cornell Maritime Press.
$6.95 T1223
Celestial Navigation by H.O 249 by John E. Milligan. Cornell Maritime.
$9.95 T1072
Celestial Navigation for Yachtsmen by Mary Blewitt, edited by Thomas C.
Bergel. International Marine.
$12.95 T1073
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Here are three thorough texts, featuring HO 229, for mariners preparing for the Coast
Guard test:
Duttons's Nautical Navigation Revised by Thomas J. Cutler. Naval Institute
Press. 15th edition 2004. 664 pages.
$49.95 T1166
Celestial Navigation for Sailors,
by Tom Tursi, 2000. Reference and text for classroom use. 8 x 11,
comb-bound.
$25.00 T2190
The American Practical Navigator originally by Nathaniel Bowditch.
Defense Mapping Agency Pub. No. 9. 873 pages.
Hardback with CD ROM $65.00 T12604
Paperback with CD ROM $47.95 T1645
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Celestial Navigation in the GPS Age, John Karl, 2007, jointly
published by Paradise Cay and Celestair. A mixture of history, math,
and rational explanations that does much more than give cookbook
recipes. It will satisfy the navigator who wants to know "why" as well
as "how". PB, 7x10, 274pp.
$24.95 T18363 |
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