Nautical Astronomy - For Real Men!Nautical astronomy, the precursor to modern methods of navigation. <<>>In order to obtain ones position at sea, mariners had to be able to recognize constellation patterns. That was in the first place. Having that knowledge a sextant is used to determine the ship's position in relation to the star. One fix is not enough, three is much better giving rise to the term triangulation. So once three readings have been taken a plot is calculated. The data has used in conjunction with almanacs and spherical trigonometry. Almanacs provided the movement of the stars on a daily basis and spherical trigonometry is the basis for modern day navigation. Nowadays, this art is not used often, although should you happen to have a sextant and a curious mind. Try using a map of the constellations to plot your position. As long as your away from artificial light then you see the stars. It is a tremendous feeling of achievement to plot accurately, although practice is needed!
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