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Celestial Navigation Tutorial

Celestial navigation is the science of using celestial bodies, such as stars and planets, to navigate one's place on Earth. Historically used to navigate the oceans, and still considered a necessary skill for mariners, celestial navigation has been replaced by GPS, radar systems and radio communications in recent times, making celestial navigation seem somewhat obsolete. The U.S. Coast Guard still includes celestial navigation questions on its mariner certification exams, and many study the ancient art now for fun rather than necessity. Celestial navigation is not easy. It involves mathematical formulas and committed study to produce results.

Things You'll Need

Sextant
Reliable clock or time piece
Nautical Almanac for current year
Astronomical map of bodies in the sky (optional)
Ruler with both centimeter and inch measurements
Tape measure
Chalk

Instructions

- 1
  
  A sextant is an important celestial navigation tool.
  
  Begin the free online tutorial for celestial navigation at the MadInstro's Corner website. Learn terminology, navigational principles and the basic formula to measure the distance between points on Earth and celestial objects. Continue through all the lessons provided to learn about important topics such as how to use and read sextants, sight reduction issues, rhumb line plotting and coastal navigation.
- 2
  
  Celestial navigation involves angles and measurements.
  
  Read the illustrated tutorial about celestial navigation on the Navigator Light Software website. This tutorial illustrates many of the major concepts involved with celestial navigation including sextant readings, longitude and latitudes, finding Earth position through the stars, determination of astronomical position and altitude adjustments. This subject is complicated, so several different explanations may be helpful.
- 3
  
  Use a tape measure and sextant in an exercise to hone your skills.
  
  Buy a sextant of your choosing, a current Nautical Almanac and a current Astronomical Almanac, and obtain an accurate watch with a calendar to practice your celestial navigation skills. Use your sextant to calculate answers for practice exercises from the Evergreen State College's Sextant Workshop. Learn how to measure the distance to a tower of known height by hand and then with a sextant.
- 4
  
  Home study courses in celestial navigation give students additional learning options.
  
  Take a home study or online course in celestial navigation if you prefer a more structured learning environment over independent study of online tutorials. Starpath offers celestial navigation online courses, home study courses and a members-only discussion forum. The home study course comes with a book, work forms and an electronic course with lessons, quizzes and resources on several CDs. The Starpath online celestial navigation course takes approximately 30 hours to complete, and the U.S Coast Guard provides on its website a list of approved schools teaching celestial navigation.

Astronomy