Celestial Navigation

Celestial navigation chart selection from Reed's Nautical Ephemeris

Celestial navigation is the practice of navigating by means of the sun, stars, moon and planets. Being one of the oldest forms of navigation, mariners have practiced celestial navigation for hundreds of years. Only recently, with the rise of GPS navigation, has celestial navigation been on the decline. GPS, although reliable, can have its problems, so it doesn’t hurt to have a backup method of being able to find your way.

Celestial navigation is based on spherical trigonometry and solving the “navigational triangle”—a theoretical triangle with the North or South Pole as one corner, the geographical position of the celestial body at another, and your assumed position as the third corner. By using a Nautical Almanac, such as the Reed’s Nautical Ephemeris, you can calculate your approximate position.

CELESTIAL NAVIGATION WITH REED'S



	Celestial navigation diagram from Reed's Nautical Ephemeris

Reed’s Nautical Ephemeris includes the celestial navigation information necessary to calculate the position of a boat at sea using celestial navigation. This book 144-page book is slim enough to fit in a sextant box, making it convenient enough to bring anywhere. If you are not entirely familiar with celestial navigation, our publication contains a brief overview, explaining the general practice of celestial navigation using different methods.

Our Nautical Ephemeris is the functional equivalent of the Nautical Almanac published annually by the United States Naval Observatory and Her Majesty's Nautical Almanac Office in the UK, but it is organized in quite a different and more compact fashion geared towards celestial navigation at sea.

Reed's celestial navigation monthly data is presented in tables organized by month and is organized into six sections.

First page: Sun and moon general information such as sunrise and sunset.

Second page: Sixty navigation stars with customary declination and sidereal hour angle (SHA), Greenwich hour angle (GHA), and the astronomers right ascention (RA). Transit time is also supplied for each star.

Third and fourth pages: GHA and declination of the sun and Aires for every 2 hours.

Fifth page: GHA, declination, and meridian passage of the four navigation planets (Venus, Jupiter, Mars and Saturn) for each day of the month.

Sixth page: GHA and declination of the moon for every 6 hours.

DATA FOR CELESTIAL NAVIGATION

Reed’s Nautical Ephemeris contains all the information necessary for you to effectively use celestial navigation to calculate your position. This publication includes a compact set of sight reduction tables as well as instructions for reducing sights using a handheld scientific calculator. This book features:

Data for sun, moon, 60 stars, and 4 planets
Explanations and examples for sight reduction with electronic calculator or included versine tables.
Sun rise & set, moon rise & set, planet visibility, celestial diary, & much other information of interest to mariners and astronomers.

MORE INFORMATION ON CELESTIAL NAVIGATION

If you would like more information on celestial navigation and marine navigation, consider purchasing Reed's Nautical Ephemeris. This book makes a great on-board reference. Our celestial navigation charts help captains and boating enthusiasts make informed decisions regarding navigation. Please note that our the Reed's Nautical Almanac Caribbean Edition contains the information from Reed's Nautical Ephemeris.

PUBLICATIONS

We offer a number of publications containing tide tables for North America:

Nautical Almanac
East Coast Edition

Nautical Almanac
West Coast Edition

Nautical Almanac Caribbean Edition

Nautical Companion

Nautical Ephemeris

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