Celestial Navigation

by Tom Cunliffe

• ISBN13: 9781898660750
• ISBN10: 1898660751
• Edition: 2nd
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2006-07-01
• Publisher: WILEY

Summary

Celestial navigation is the one of the oldest of the mariner's arts - and one of the most awe-inspiring. To guide a small boat across the trackless oceans using only a simple measuring device - the sextant - and the knowledge of the sun, moon and stars is a skill that borders on the magical. In these pages Tom Cuncliffe shows how to master the art in easy stages. Starting from a sound foundation of basic concepts and definitions, he moves on to the hardware: the sextant and how to use it. within a few pages he has you down on the beach, shooting the sun. From there it is a short step to working out your latitude from a noon sight, and learning how to plot a position from observation of the sun, planets, moon or stars - wherever you may be on the world's oceans. "He writes with the authority of a man who knows that his methods work in the most testing of all examination rooms, a small boat sailing on the open ocean." -Bill Anderson, Formerly Rya Training manager

Author Biography

Tom Cunliffe is one of Britain’s leading writers on sailing and the sea, and a consultant for US Sailing.  He has cruised from Brazil to Iceland and from the Caribbean to Russia.

Table of Contents

Introduction	5	(2)
The Earth and the heavens	7	(8)
The Sextant	15	(5)
The noon Sight for latitude	20	(4)
Time	24	(3)
Position lines and plotting	27	(13)
Tables	30	(10)
Sun sights	40	(4)
The planets	44	(3)
The Moon	47	(3)
The Stars	50	(7)
Polaris - the Pole Star	57	(3)
Compass checking on the ocean	60	(2)
The shortest way	62