
AstroNavigation – A free course - jweir
https://my.vanderbilt.edu/astronav/
======
aleksei
For anyone interested in natural navigation in general, you might check out
The Lost Art Of Finding Our Way:
[https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16241535-the-lost-art-
of...](https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/16241535-the-lost-art-of-finding-
our-way)

~~~
secfirstmd
I also highly recommend "Finding your way without map or compass"

[https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-Way-Without-
Compass/dp/0...](https://www.amazon.com/Finding-Your-Way-Without-
Compass/dp/048640613X)

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dreamcompiler
Anybody know where to buy a good sextant? (I hope the course discusses this; I
haven't had time to read it yet.) I started trying to learn this stuff a few
months ago and it seems that most available sextants fall into two categories:
Cheap plastic ones with poor thermal characteristics that make them
inaccurate, and expensive brass ones that are more thermally stable but
designed for display and not calibrated for serious navigation. I'd like to
buy one in between: A quality navigational instrument that doesn't have to be
"pretty".

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keithpeter
Good suggestions from others and I know this is not your use case but I'd add
to anyone new to navigation or with just a casual interest: get a plastic
'emergency sextant' and try using it along with a digital watch (Casio cheap
one). Davis and EBBCO do both do plastic sextants.

~~~
gcheong
There is even a book on how to use them called "How to Use Plastic Sextants"
by David Burch who seems to be a fairly prolific author on celestial
navigation [http://a.co/0iVNVrW](http://a.co/0iVNVrW)

~~~
keithpeter
Linked to that book page on Amazon is the Davies 'quick reference card'
(laminated) that I imagine one would have in the life boat...

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syntaxing
I always wanted to learn something like this! Embarrassingly... I never knew
what it was called until today so I never found any books or videos on it.
Learning what it is called and about an free course online course is awesome!

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dhimes
Your local chapter of the United States Power Squadrons (now re-branding to
America's Boating Club) teaches this.

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syntaxing
Is it a one time fee or is there a club I have to join first?

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dhimes
Good question. It used to require a membership (I think it's like $70/year);
then there is a fee for the course on top. I believe now they have opened the
courses up to the public.

There are two courses, actually. The first one focuses on sun sights- I've had
that one. The second uses other stars. It's really for marine folks- so it
includes a lot of navigation stuff.

[https://americasboatingclub.org/education-matters/in-
person-...](https://americasboatingclub.org/education-matters/in-person-
boating-education/)

~~~
syntaxing
Awesome, thanks!!

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golem14
I found this course somewhat lacking in intuition building.

It's also sad that we're still using trig tables (that's essentially what the
nautical Alamanac is. It also has to be updated every year). I thought the
aeronautical paper flight computer was complex ...

Also, I find it hard to believe that a set of 6 books is more disaster proof
(and quicker to use) than a hardened calculator for when the shit hits the fan
...

FWIW, here is a nice free resource for printing your own almanac:

[http://sv-inua.net/the-nautical-almanac](http://sv-inua.net/the-nautical-
almanac)

~~~
tawm
Why is looking things up in a table sad?

For the purpose of astro nav: NP303 is calculated for an epoch of 5 years (and
it's only 3 books). Until its end of life, it has to be "updated" in the sense
that corrections need to be applied as they are released.

I don't think the point of the books has ever been disaster proofing. For the
most part, books were good enough for the job before computers and still are.
They're cheap, come from trusted sources (and it's easy to verify that they're
legitimate), and they're easy to correct should they have errata.

Windows PCs and excel spreadsheets are used in navigation all the time.
Nobody's forcing navigators to use books. If they do, though, they probably
have a good reason for it.

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nyokodo
I failed this course 13 times so I've remained a Second Technician in the
Space Corps.

~~~
thelibrarian
At least you have your Bronze Swimming Certificate.

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nearmuse
Cool, I was thinking of learning this recently. I also wanted to find a book
on amateur astronomy but still have no idea what exactly to look for.

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mast
One of my favourite books is Turn Left at Orion by Guy Consolmagno. It
describes the different astronomical objects that you can expect to see and
how to find them in the sky. I think it also does a good job of setting
expectations because you just won't see Hubble class images from your
backyard. The is also a companion website
[http://www.cambridge.org/features/turnleft/](http://www.cambridge.org/features/turnleft/)

~~~
abenedic
I can second this recommendation, if you are into backyard astronomy.

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Fjolsvith
Boy scouts orienteering merit badge stuff.

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Fjolsvith
For you downvoters, I was in the Boy Scouts and earned the Orienteering merit
badge.

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Casseres
Eagle Scout here. So was I, but your experience seems atypical. You probably
just had a Merit Badge counselor that went above and beyond. That's awesome!

Anyone who wants to give back and help the shape the next generation, you can
be a Merit Badge counselor. Just talk to your local council. There's over a
100 Merit Badges, and more than half of them are STEM-related. If you have a
career or hobby that's related to one of them, you can share your knowledge,
skills, and advice to others.

[https://beascout.scouting.org/Volunteer.aspx](https://beascout.scouting.org/Volunteer.aspx)

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sizzzzlerz
I watched the first couple videos but stopped when they started a practical
example (3rd video, I think). Turns out you need some basic tools I don't have
(dividers, parallel rulers) and charting paper. They don't mention this
upfront. I need to perform the steps they demonstrate in order to have it sink
in so I stopped watching. The tutorial is interesting enough that I'll see if
I can get the necessary things and pick it up again.

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nagarc
link not working?

