NavList:
A Community Devoted to the Preservation and Practice of Celestial Navigation and Other Methods of Traditional Wayfinding
From: Brad Morris
Date: 2015 Sep 15, 16:13 -0400
Hello Al
My perennial recommendation for understanding celestial navigation, beyond the basics, is Dutton, "Navigation and Piloting". A pre1973 version is best as the navigation satellites were just coming on around then. Dutton was used at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, back when celestial was king.
Of course, for real depth, you want Chauvenet's "A manual of spherical and practical astronomy".
There are several on NavList who are deeply into the mathematics and will be glad to help you in your voyage.
Brad
Thanks to everyone for your replies. I've been reading some books about the history/advancement of navigation and exploration. I recall that the stars are relatively fixed in relation to each other except for rotating around our sky, but the moon and planets move around and based on the location/angle between some of these you could calculate either the exact date/time or your location. Perhaps I confused astronomy stuff that goes beyond the need for ocean navigation.
I'm comfortable with using the sun and ho 249 but want to go beyond "fill in the blanks" on the worksheet or a calculator. I want to beef up on theory, alternate methods and using the stars/planets. This is beyond any need for gps backup and more for fun/interest in the history and mathematics. Its funny how trig was my least favorite math in school and now i want to understand it for fun.
I had a plastic sextant in the 90s but that went when i sold the boat and moved inland. Were now back on a coast (south florida) and I recently picked up an Astra IIIb. I've also begun working on a long term initiative called "honey lets get another sailboat". I have the mary blewitt book and also commonsense celestial navigation. Any recommendations on further reading or references is appreciated.
Regards, Al
