ASTRONOMICAL-CELESTIAL NAVIGATION

[Maximilian Hohmann]

Hello!

(01-22-2022 03:07 PM)PedroLeiva Wrote:  It is important to remember that in 15th century navigators used this system with success,...

Not really, because as you write above, one of the key inputs for celestial navigation is the (exact) time. It is required to determine one's longitude and the difficulties associated with that were known as the "longitude problem" for centuries (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_longitude). It was only solved in the 18th century when Harrison developed the first properly working ship chronometer.

The subject of celestial navigation is rather complex for a forum post. I would suggest to look at a book on the topic (e.g. „Celestial Navigation with a Pocket Calculator“ by Jonah Slocum - but there are several others!) or one of the many websites that deal with it. I also found the (rather compact) user manual that comes with the Tamaya NC-77 calculator to be a good introduction to the subject.

And be aware that in order to do celestial navigation with the pocket calculator you will also need a current copy of the „Nautical Almanac“ which is pulished new every year. This book has the size and mass of telephone directory of a large town... You can of course use an app on your cellphone or tablet to do the almanac calculations for you but that obviously takes the fun out of using your HP-67 for it :-)

Regards
Max