This video is part of the "Advanced Concepts in Celestial Navigation" film series.
Part 3 of "Advanced Concepts" deals with how to complete the calculations necessary to determine lines of position from the moon. We end the Celestial Navigation Film Series with a 3-body fix example involving the Moon, Jupiter, and the star Sirius.
Useful links:
Help on finding the planets:
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Tonight's sky:
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Our Practical Navigator website which hosts these videos and written works:
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A cool website which hosts celestial navigation spreadsheets for direct calculations:
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Discussion:
In this episode we begin with a of how Eratosthenes calculated the circumference of the Earth with his knowledge of celestial navigation, and how the moon is a unique body because of its proximity to Earth as well as its variability.
We then complete a sight of the Moon, taken from the US Coast Guard Celestial Navigation exam.
Finally, we conclude we a 3-body fix example involving the Moon, Jupiter, and the star Sirius. These sights were observed on my voyage from the Bahamas to Florida on April 3, 2014.
That ends the Celestial Navigation Film Series. For more learning, look for any celestial navigation books you can find, as well as searching the web for the many great resources that folks are working on.
The purpose of this series is not to take away from formal education or training programs, but rather to provide a basic overview, or refresher, as the case may be - with the end goal of increasing awareness of celestial navigation among modern mariners.
It has been a pleasure producing the series and interacting with the YouTube community. Look for more training films on this channel in the future.
Unfortunately for me, my sabbatical is coming to an end, and I'll be returning to work in the US Coast Guard. My new job is in Alameda, California, so it will be a busy summer (2014) getting out west and setting up a new home, but I hope to produce more films later this year.
Happy Navigating!
Some images from Can Stock Photo.
Produced and presented by Christopher D. Nolan, US Coast Guard cutterman and merchant mariner (500 tons Oceans). Currently on sabbatical, returning to service in June 2014.
