Celestial Navigation When Your Gps Fails

by Breach, Mark

• ISBN13: 9781412026673
• ISBN10: 1412026679
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-08-31
• Publisher: Trafford on Demand Pub

Table of Contents

Abbreviations and Symbols	6	(1)
Preface	7	(1)
Our Place among the Stars	8	(6)
Celestial Coordinates	8	(2)
Apparent Movement of the Stars	10	(2)
Time	12	(2)
From Sky to Ocean	14	(5)
How Many Lines?	14	(1)
Under a Lucky Star	14	(1)
Where Two Lines Cross	15	(2)
When Only the Sun is Shining	17	(2)
Tools for the Task	19	(8)
The Sextant	19	(2)
Using the Sextant	21	(2)
Sextant Errors and Corrections	23	(2)
Finding the Time	25	(2)
Necessary Reductions	27	(4)
Dip	27	(1)
Refraction	27	(2)
Semi-diameter of Sun and Moon	29	(1)
Parallax	29	(2)
Practical Position Finding	31	(36)
Quality Assurance of the Observations	32	(1)
Find the Average of the Observations of Time and Sextant Angle	33	(1)
Apply a Calibration Correction to the Stopwatch Time	33	(1)
Identify Body and Compute the Local Hour Angle	33	(1)
Apply Corrections to the Observed Sextant Angle	34	(1)
Calculate the Sextant Angle that would have been observed at the DR Position at the Observation Time	34	(1)
Plot a Position Line on the Chart	34	(2)
Finding Altitude Without a Calculator	36	(5)
On the Wrong Planet?	41	(3)
Bodies on the Meridian - Easy Astro	44	(3)
Practise in Your Own Back Yard	47	(1)
Reduction to WGS84	48	(2)
The Effect of the Sloping Horizon	50	(1)
Check your Compass with the Sun	50	(1)
Preparing for the Voyage	51
Paperwork
How to Use the Forms	12	(49)
Position Line from the Sun	55	(3)
Position Line from the Moon	58	(1)
Position Line from a Planet	59	(1)
Position Line from a Star	60	(1)
Altitude by Tables	60	(1)
Position Line Plot	61	(1)
How to Use the Tables	61	(6)
Ephemeral Tables	61	(3)
Permanent Tables	64	(3)
Some Concepts and Formulae	67	(10)
Solar and Sidereal Days	67	(1)
The Solar System and Kepler's Laws	68	(1)
The Obliquity of the Ecliptic	68	(2)
The Apparent Path of the Sun	70	(2)
Spherical Trigonometry	72	(1)
The Astronomical Triangle	73	(1)
Applying Spherical Trigonometry to the Astronomical Triangle	74	(3)
A Worked Example	77	(9)
The Forms and Tables	86	(55)
Forms
Position Line from Sun	87	(1)
Position Line from Moon	88	(1)
Position Line from Planet	89	(1)
Position Line from Star	90	(1)
Altitude by Tables	91	(1)
Position Line Plot	92	(1)
Permanent Tables
Sun and Planets Increments	93	(29)
Mercury Double Differences	122	(1)
Moon GHA Increments	123	(2)
Moon Declination Increments	125	(2)
Moon Parallax Increments	127	(2)
Refraction and Dip	129	(1)
Interpolation	130	(1)
Time to Angle	131	(1)
F tables	132	(9)
Index	141