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Merchant Marine Cadets Help Navy Knock The Rust Off Sextants

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By Commander Justin Harts, USN (USS Benfold) According to the definitive book on marine navigation familiar to most naval officers – “The American Practical Navigator” – navigation began the first time humans had to find their way home using some object that caught their eye. Marine navigation was born shortly afterwards when humans observed that some objects could support … [Read more...]

In Double ECDIS Failure what good is a Sextant?

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  By Jaquelyn Burton (Coeval, Inc.) ECDIS is becoming ubiquitous - and that is a good thing. However, as we move towards more and more vessels relying wholly on ECDIS and heavily on its integration with GPS, some new problems are of growing concern. At a time of an ever-increasing amount of automation, the U.S. Navy is going back to teaching celestial navigation after an … [Read more...]

Moon Setting on Calm Water

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The above photo was taken using a technique we published in a story titled "Shipboard Digital Camera Tricks". Many more great moon pictures by the photographer, Licya, can be found HERE. by Miranda Max Sailors and captains have been using the moon to navigate the sea for ages. The history between the moon and the sea is deep and rich. We find the relationship even in … [Read more...]

World’s Sexiest Sextant? You Decide

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MaritimeLinks.net (a must see site) brings us what is reportedly "The Worlds Sexiest Sextant" or less smashingly called the Cassens & Plath Horizon Ultra. Why? Here's their answer: WIRED magazine ran an article that was a real surprise to me: It was about a sextant, and a very good looking sextant at that! This old school navigational device has some sexy styling that any … [Read more...]

Star Identification – Celestial Navigation 101

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One of the keys to becoming good at celestial navigation is knowing what you're looking for. That is why learning the constellations is important. Todays gCaptain tip is a simple link to a simple slideshow that teaches you star identification the night sky. QuiteBay's: The Night Sky (thanks to Lifehacker for the tip) Also...not very instructional but still … [Read more...]