Determining Position by Celestial Navigation 1971 US Navy Training Film MN-10780D; Graphic Films Cartoon

more at http://quickfound.net/

Originally a public domain film from the US Navy, slightly cropped to remove uneven edges, with the aspect ratio corrected, and one-pass brightness-contrast-color correction & mild video noise reduction applied.

The soundtrack was also processed with volume normalization, noise reduction, clipping reduction, and/or equalization (the resulting sound, though not perfect, is far less noisy than the original).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Celestial_navigation

Wikipedia license: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Celestial navigation, also known as astronavigation, is the ancient and modern practice of position fixing that enables a navigator to transition through a space without having to rely on estimated calculations, or dead reckoning, to know their position. Celestial navigation uses "sights", or angular measurements taken between a celestial body (e.g. the Sun, the Moon, a planet, or a star) and the visible horizon. The Sun is most commonly used, but navigators can also use the Moon, a planet, Polaris, or one of 57 other navigational stars whose coordinates are tabulated in the nautical almanac and air almanacs.

Celestial navigation is the use of angular measurements (sights) between celestial bodies and the visible horizon to locate one's position in the world, on land as well as at sea. At a given time, any celestial body is located directly over one point on the Earth's surface. The latitude and longitude of that point is known as the celestial body's geographic position (GP), the location of which can be determined from tables in the nautical or air almanac for that year. The measured angle between the celestial body and the visible horizon is directly related to the distance between the celestial body's GP and the observer's position. After some computations, referred to as sight reduction, this measurement is used to plot a line of position (LOP) on a navigational chart or plotting worksheet, the observer's position being somewhere on that line. (The LOP is actually a short segment of a very large circle on Earth that surrounds the GP of the observed celestial body. An observer located anywhere on the circumference of this circle on Earth, measuring the angle of the same celestial body above the horizon at that instant of time, would observe that body to be at the same angle above the horizon.) Sights on two celestial bodies give two such lines on the chart, intersecting at the observer's position (actually, the two circles would result in two points of intersection arising from sights on two stars described above, but one can be discarded since it will be far from the estimated position—see the figure at example below). Most navigators will use sights of three to five stars, if available, since that will result in only one common intersection and minimizes the chance of error. That premise is the basis for the most commonly used method of celestial navigation, referred to as the 'altitude-intercept method'. At least three points must be plotted. The plot intersection will usually provide a triangle where the exact position is inside of it. Accuracy of the sights is indicated by the size of the triangle.

There are several other methods of celestial navigation that will also provide position-finding using sextant observations, such as the noon sight, and the more archaic lunar distance method. Joshua Slocum used the lunar distance method during the first recorded single-handed circumnavigation of the world. Unlike the altitude-intercept method, the noon sight and lunar distance methods do not require accurate knowledge of time. The altitude-intercept method of celestial navigation requires that the observer know exact Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) at the moment of their observation of the celestial body, to the second—since for every four seconds that the time source (commonly a chronometer or, in aircraft, an accurate "hack watch") is in error, the position will be off by approximately one nautical mile...

Practical celestial navigation usually requires a marine chronometer to measure time, a sextant to measure the angles, an almanac giving schedules of the coordinates of celestial objects, a set of sight reduction tables to help perform the height and azimuth computations, and a chart of the region.

With sight reduction tables, the only calculations required are addition and subtraction...

In the event of equipment or electrical failure, taking sun lines a few times a day and advancing them by dead reckoning allows a vessel to get a crude running fix sufficient to return to port. One can also use the Moon, a planet, Polaris, or one of 57 other navigational stars to track celestial positioning...