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Starpath Celestial Navigation Lesson 1 — INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, AND OVERVIEW Why you don't need to be nervous about learning celestial, if you might be • Tools of the Trade • Terminology • Overview of Ocean Navigation • Overview of Celestial Navigation • Bird's Eye View of a Celestial Fix • Latitude, Longitude, and Nautical Miles • Arithmetic of Angles and Time • Exercises on Angles and Time Lesson 2 — SEXTANTS All about Sextants • How to Take a Sextant Sight • How to Read a Sextant • Introduction to sextant corrections • Exercises on Sextant Reading Lesson 3 — NOON SIGHTS (LAN) Overview of a Noon sight • Details, Virtues, and Drawbacks • Step-by-step procedures for doing an LAN Sight • Use of the Nautical Almanac for finding sun's declination • Practice and Exercises on LAN Sights. At the end of this lesson, you will have mastered some 75% of the overall process of learning celestial navigation Lesson 4 — PLOTTING AND CHART WORK After a lot of work with tables and numbers, we take a break and do some plotting • Role of plotting and "chart work" in cel nav • Universal Plotting Sheets • Exercise with Universal Plotting Sheets • Procedure for Plotting Celestial LOPs • Exercise on Plotting LOPs • DR Plotting Exercise Lesson 5 — SUN SIGHTS Back to the tables and workforms! • Role of sun sights in ocean navigation • Sunrise, Sunset, and Twilight Times • Instructions for doing Sun Lines using Starpath Workforms • More work with the Nautical Almanac • Use of Sight Reduction Tables • Practice with Sun Lines • This is our most "intense" lesson. After this one, it is all downhill. Now you will have completed some 90% of the learning process. Lesson 6 — RUNNING FIXES And another break from the tables with more chart work and plotting • Role of running fixes in marine navigation • Running Fixes in Coastal Nav • Step by step procedures for Running Fixes in Celestial Nav • Basic Exercises on Running Fixes • Combined exercises on sun sight reductions and running fixes Lesson 7 — STAR SIGHTS Role of star sights • preparing for star sights • Step by step procedures for Sight Reduction of star sights using Starpath workforms • Exercises on Star Sights Lesson 8 — PLANET SIGHTS Role of planet sights • Preparing for planet sights • Step by step procedures for Sight Reduction of Planet sights using Starpath workforms • Exercises on Planet Sights Lesson 9 — MOON SIGHTS Role of moon sights • Special considerations with moon sights • Step by step procedures for Sight Reduction of moon sights using Starpath workforms • Exercises on Moon Sights Lesson 10 — STAR and PLANET IDENTIFICATION Role of star ID in routine cel nav • Introduction to The Star Finder Book • Identifying Stars and Planets with the 2102-D Star Finder • ID by Pub 249, Vol 1 • Precomputing Star Sights by Star Finder and direct sight reduction • Star Gazing as a Navigator (tricks and tips, some mythology, some astronomy) • Finding directions from the stars Lesson 11 — IN DEPTH STUDIES OF SPECIAL TOPICS Electronic Navigation at Sea (GPS) • Radio Time Signals • Compass Checks at Sea • How to Average Sights for Optimum • Emergency Procedures • Checking Index Correction with the sun ("Explorer's method") • How to Check a Sextant with the Stars • An Ocean-Going Nav Station • Offshore Navigation Checklist • Latitude by Polaris • Sight Reduction with the NAO Tables • Calculators and Computers for Celestial Navigation • Dip Short and Sextant Practice at a Shoreline • Using Artificial Horizons • Plastic Sextant Sights • Longitude from LAN • AM to PM Running Fixes (the optimum method) Lesson 12 — HOW TO CARRY ON WITH WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED How to practice on your own • Internet resources that help • Typical day's work at sea • Lunars as a way to advance your skills • Emergency Navigation applications as a way to advance your knowledge • Organizations of kindred souls |