Which celestial navigation software?

[Mike Bryon]

Can anyone recommend a celestial navigation program I can use offshore (offline and beyond mobile network) that will allow me to practice accurate sights, does the calculations and provides a fix.

Thinking of something low cost, beginner friendly where all I have to do is input sights, time, height above sea level, approx. position from DR perhaps.

 

[Stingo]

There are several apps on Google Play. A search for "celestial navigation" is your friend. If you have an iphone, throw it overboard and thank me later

 

[S04]

Here is an excellent resource which provides an almanac with all the ephemera if you want to do it the longer way or a simple easy to use Excel spreadsheet to reduce a sun sight for you if you just want to input your parameters without reference to the Almanac. The Nautical Almanac


You want one that provides a fix? Well I'm not sure but there may be some out there. It would be more common for such software to provide a reduction for a single sight giving an azimuth and intercept. You then need a second sight and advance the first PL to get a fix.

 

[Sandy]

Personally, I'd recommend

Celestial Navigation: A Complete Home Study Course The book breaks the process down to its simplest form is written in plain English and no haversines are used. It also includes templates for doing all the the sums.

by David Burch.

If you are going to do astronavigation you may as well do it properly and as @S04 suggests download the stuff you need from The Nautical Almanac website.

I've a leaver arch folder with all the bits and pieces I need and print off the 'daily pages' for when I am at sea.

 

[laika]

Much as I hate it when someone asks "How do I do X?" and someone else says ""Don't do X do Y!" ... I'm genuinely curious as to motivation. I get that pre-gps folks just wanted to establish position with the least fuss but now we *do* have GPS. And if you have power for a program you have power for a GPS. If, like me, you're attracted to astro just for the retro intellectual challenge ... as I think Sandy is saying above..why not go the whole hog and do it manually? And apologies: I have nothing to contribute on the software front because I use a notepad and some of that fancy plotting paper

 

[S04]

I agree to some extent; I prefer to do sight reductions manually. I would say though that I don't see it as a challenge, intellectual or otherwise. Like loads of things, once you've learned it, it's simply a matter following a well practised procedure. I worry that when novices see people who are familiar with the matter of sight reduction calling it an intellectual challenge that they immediately think it's hard and it puts them off when the fact is that it isn't. You need to extract data from a couple of sources and do some arithmetic, just addition and subtraction. I think the hardest bit is actually becoming familiar with the sextant but that applies whether you're doing the sight reduction manually or relying on program. It needs practice.

 

[Marsali_1]

Can anyone recommend a celestial navigation program I can use offshore (offline and beyond mobile network) that will allow me to practice accurate sights, does the calculations and provides a fix.

Thinking of something low cost, beginner friendly where all I have to do is input sights, time, height above sea level, approx. position from DR perhaps.

While you asked for recommendations for online sight reduction calculators (and there are several out there that are free-ware and simple to use) I have to agree with Sandy and SO4 and suggest that you do the calculations yourself. There is a really simple to follow online series of videos here AstroNavigation – Online module for celestial navigation which show that it is easy and quick to do it with no difficult math involved. You have the added benefit of following the same process for sun or moon sights. With practice it takes a few minutes to do the whole series of calculations and it is great fun to confirm that you are, in fact, where you think you are! The relevant tables are available free online as pdf files so that you can take them with you on a laptop or other mobile device. If you can't find them yourself I can track them down and post links here.

 

[S04]

The relevant tables are available free online as pdf files so that you can take them with you on a laptop or other mobile device. If you can't find them yourself I can track them down and post links here.

All the tables are to be found in the link in post #3

 

[AMOREST]

App called Celestial Navigation - Sextant Sight Reduction does what you’re looking for.

I used this on Transat last year.
Set up your app settings, height of eye etc.

You select your Assumed position - and it can be your actual GPS position ,
Put in your speed and heading
Pre select your body being observed - can be Mer Pas or dawn / dusk body.

Enter your sextant reading and hit set time to now.

The App calculates position and plots the info and errors on chart. Also keeps records of all your sightings.

App also translates position to allow multiple sightings to be compared for speed and heading.

You need to know the basics first. But this app really helps your skills with sextant and body selection, location etc.
A

 

[requiem]

There are two apps I find useful. The first is "Celestial Navigation" by Harald Merkel and I suspect it's the one AMOREST mentioned. Even when plotting by hand, it remains useful for checking your work.

The second is "GPS Anti Spoof Pro" by Frank Reed. This is helpful for getting instant feedback on your observations (assuming no spoofing is, in fact, in play) as it lets you know what your sextant reading "should" be.

As the others have mentioned, I recommend working through the process yourself. Some people like having worksheets to complete, I found practicing on blank paper helped embed the knowledge better.

 

[Skylark]

I use a notepad and some of that fancy plotting paper

I use a plain A3 sheet and draw my lat and long grid lines using the very simple Cos relationship between the two. The significant cost saving goes into the beer token fund.

Taking and reducing sights on a long passage is good for the soul and helps maintain the body clock, especially on east to west passages.

After completing the forenoon PL, “it must surely be time for coffee and cake”. After a MP “anyone fancy a sandwich” and following the afternoon PL “tea and biscuits”.

In all, it’s a very civilised process.

 

[Mike Bryon]

Thanks everyone.

Stingo, no i phone in fact nothing apple in my possession, BTW we met over a beer in a St Vincent anchorage when you were driving a catamaran and I was on Dark Horse an Ocean 60. Guess it was 2012 or something?

Thanks Amorest and Requiem, Celestial Navigation and GPS Anti Spoof Pro sound exactly what I’m looking for.

Maybe one day (but probably not) I will want to carry tables and do the maths manually. Mostly I want to get accurate at sight taking so I can learn, appreciate, get more involved in the celestial show while on passage.

 

[jwilson]

You can do a lot of practice on a calm day or night with the reflection of sun, moon, brighter stars on a calm night in a tub of water in the back garden and halving the height. When positon lines started to get quite accurate on the house location I moved on to occasional sights when coastal afloat, whenever I had a decent horizon.

At that point I made a passage that used astro in earnest, and found it worked (long before GPS existed). Now my boat has 4 separate GPS devices, and for me astro is in a total emergency category - ie when all electrics and electronics are dead (I've been there more than once deep-sea) and when you can't rely on a handy computer/tablet/phone app to do the work for you, because they're full of salt water. And don't trust something electric or electronic being "waterproof".....

It's quite satisfying doing it all on paper, though I of course cheat by using two cheap digital Casio watches as the time source, but even without that you can get latitude and that's a lot better than "no idea within a 50+ mile circle" that I've known before GPS in prolonged unpleasant weather.

So do it on paper!

 

[Mike Bryon]

Paper also spoils in contact with saltwater, pencils break, sextants get dropped…

If that keeps you awake, carry a waterproof, handheld GPS receiver and a bunch of Duracell batteries. Turn it on at noon each day for a fix.

For some amazing insight into early navigation (and how we might utilise it in an crisis) I can recommend David Burch’s book 'Emergency Navigation.'

 

[Stingo]

This is another book that you might want to add to your library

 

[servus]

I might be a bit late since OP seems to be satisfied with what popped up so far.

Let me just add something for the German speaking crowd.

There is was and is a programme available by Bobby Schenk, german circumnavigator and possibly the "best known" bluewater/cruiser guru out of Germany. Bobby Schenks ASTRO-CLASSIC 2.0 on USB stick.

www.bobbyschenk.de

This is to be put onto your laptop and then your sights will be processed to get a fix.

The programme is definitely rather old style and not fancy (possibly why I sort of liked it) and it shows you ascreen of the sky that you are supposed to see when you enter the date, time and estimated location.

I am not at all good with celestial navigation, just own a good sextant and did some practising over the years, never had to use it in anger...

For whatever it's worth to anyone

Fair winds, G.

Just forgot to write: this programme only works on windows and for me most important: you do not need internet connection.
Just sit somewhere, type your sights into the box and voila: there you are ...(more or less).
Cheers, G.

 

[Frank Holden]

Not quite what the OP was asking for but maybe of interest to some.
Written by a simple sailorman for simple sailormen.
Offshore Navigation.pdf

 

[Skylark]

Not quite what the OP was asking for but maybe of interest to some.
Written by a simple sailorman for simple sailormen.
Offshore Navigation.pdf

I've just spent a very pleasant hour skip reading through all 172 pages. That's a fine body of work, Frank. Do you mind if I keep a copy, are there any copyright issues?

 

[PhillM]

Just want to add to this thread that Astro IS hard. I spent. Week trying to learn it and it reduced me to tears on more than one occasion. I’m not a thick or stupid person (I hold a PhD and spent 30 years running businesses) but if “simple maths” isnt your thing then Astro is fiendishly hard.

 

[Sandy]

Just want to add to this thread that Astro IS hard. I spent. Week trying to learn it and it reduced me to tears on more than one occasion. I’m not a thick or stupid person (I hold a PhD and spent 30 years running businesses) but if “simple maths” isnt your thing then Astro is fiendishly hard.

You may want to look at the book I mentioned in post #4 I found it took me step by step and I've found it very easy.