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Product Description
Practical considerations aside, there is something soul-satisfying about looking to the sky to plot one's course. And despite the proliferation of electronic navigational devices, celestial navigation remains an essential tool for those who do not wish to be caught short when modern technology fails. Ideally, today's navigators employ a combination of DR and GPS technology, along with traditional methods of celestial navigation.
In this easy-to-use guide, Hewitt Schlereth explains clearly and concisely how to navigate any stretch of sea using only a hand-held sextant, a watch, a plotting sheet and a copy of the Nautical Almanac. The basic process is simple: take a sight with a sextant, establish a secondary reference or benchmark sight, compare the two sights and plot the result of the comparison on a chart. Schlereth demonstrates how to take sights by the sun, moon, stars and planets, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of each method. The reader is taken carefully through several examples and situational illustrations, making this a most effective self-teaching guide.
Also discussed in a straightforward manner are the fundamental theories of astronomy and celestial navigation. Common errors are reviewed and several tips on how to improve accuracy are given.
Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell (Seafarer Books) Reviews
Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell (Seafarer Books) Reviews
| 24 of 25 people found the following review helpful:  Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell, By Jeremiah Lighter (New York) - See all my reviews This review is from: Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell (Seafarer Books) (Paperback) I found Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell easy to follow and the diagrams made a distinct contribution to my understanding. I also liked Schlereth's informal, personal style. It too made this scary subject more readily available to my teensy mathematical mind.I found his use of the plotting sheet a unique and helpful addition. I never came across this gimmick before. I was also grateful for the large easy-to-read type. 20 of 22 people found the following review helpful: Easy to understand, easy to use!, By This review is from: Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell (Seafarer Books) (Paperback) I'm a student pilot (hopefully for not much longer!) and navigation is very interesting to me, not to talk of very important as well. I've heard of celestial navigation as being the ultimate form of navigation and I was interested in finding out more about it by reading various books but each time I did, I had to give up because I did not have the necessary PhD in astrophysics to understand what the author was trying to say.So, it was with a little trepidation that I approached reading this book by Schlereth and to my pleasant surprise, celestial navigation makes sense! His use of simplified theory may not be to some people's taste but at the end of the day, I'm not studying for an exam, I'm trying to understand what celestial navigation is and how to use it. This book teaches you how exactly to use it and that's all that matters to any good author and should to any good reader. I can now go outdoors with a sextant and the necessary tables and find out where on earth I am, correct... Read more 16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:  Examples clearly explained, By Renee "Renee" (West Chester, PA USA) - See all my reviews This review is from: Celestial Navigation in a Nutshell (Seafarer Books) (Paperback) Hewitt Schlereth wrote this book to explain the use of the HO249 tables to fix one's position on the earth using the known positions of the sun, moon, planets, and distant stars. I would also recommend reading this book if you intend to use another method of sight reduction, such as George G. Bennett's "The Complete On-Board Celestial Navigator" (ISBN: 0071396578). Schlereth gives a good introduction to the celestial bodies used for navigation and how to use them.Schlereth's examples show the relevant tables, highlighting the values used. He makes it clear how to enter the tables correctly every time, and gives a few tips on how to avoid transcription errors when "taking out" the numbers you need. He begins the book with a little trigonometric fiction -- that we are interested in the angles between the sun, the "position" of the sun on the surface of the earth, and the observer. Of course, this is a bit of nonsense, as another reviewer, Nathaniel... Read more |
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