Celestial Navigation

[HenryC]

When I was a boot Navy QM striker on tin can, many moons ago, we were trying to find Midway Island,  NW of Hawaii.  The island is tiny, very low and flat, it just doesn't generate enough thermal updraft to form its own clouds. In those days, LORAN was the preferred form of electronic navigation, but we were approaching the island along the axis of the hyperbolas formed by LORAN LOPs.  In other words, it was no help at all. 

The First Class Quartermaster who ran Nav Division showed me an old trick.  He pointed out a a group of puffy cumulus clouds, and asked me, "Which one looks different?  And hurry, because they're moving!"  Sure enough, one of them had a SLIGHTLY different shade of color underneath, a very pale, almost white, pastel green.  And it was fading fast! The others were just white.

"You see," he explained, "the ones over the ocean are over deep blue water, water too dark to reflect sunlight,  but the one over an atoll reflects the pale green water inside the lagoon, compared to the others, it looks different.  THAT's Midway."

[ontarioSuncat]

The big Airforce bombers still use celestial navigation. They fly so high the sky is black. They have a dome on top and a navigation pod that id's stars and calculates a fix. Also Gyro compass error is still corrected with sun sights. All navy ships are required to take at least one sight a day. I guess there is a feeling that if push comes to shove the GPS system may be interrupted.

[Craig Weis]

Self-Taught Navigation.
Ten Easy Steps to Master Celestial Navigation
By Robert Y. Kittredge
Northland Press
Flagstaff, Arizona.
1970, isbn 0-87358-049-4

For all
the far-flung little ships
making wakes around the world.

Included in this book is an explanation of Captain Kittredge's self-devised method of holding course line with only one sight each day.
If you want I could loan this book to you for research. skip. Send me a message.

[HenryC]

http://www.qmss.com/article/pepperday.html

The link above points to a review I wrote for the Pepperday sight reduction tables, which I believe are the best tool available today for celestial navigators.  No, I am not related to Mr Pepperday, nor do I have any investment in his product.  I simply believe this publication is very worthwhile.  Read the review and find out why.

Good luck.

[Joseph]

The captain was lining up his sextant when a shooting star streaked across the sky.
Observing this, the helmsman said to the captain, "Nice shot sir!"
(Not mine...: http://www.myboatclub.com/Funny.html)

J.

[HenryC]

Ah, the plot thickens...