Table of Contents

Class Prep

Class 1
Class 2
Class 3
Class 4
Class 5
Class 6
Class 7
Class 8
Class 9
Class 10

>>Topical Articles<<
Assumed Longitude
Bowditch
Bygrave
Casio fx-260 Solar II
Emergency Navigation
Making a Kamal
Noon Sight
Pub. 249 Vol. 1
Sextant Adjustment
Sextant Skills
Sight Averaging
Sight Planning,
  Error Ellipses,
  & Cocked Hats
Slide Rules
Standard Terminology
Star Chart
The Raft Book
Time
Worksheet Logic

BCOSA.ca

Class 5:  August 8, 2019
 

New Pages Added to This Web Since Last Week

  • Bowditch — the latest edition of The American Practical Navigator has just been released for free download.


Class Plan

  • Ofer's comments/questions
  • Discuss homework assignment: memorizing navigational stars.
  • Reduce and plot Planet sight
  • Introduce sight averaging.



Materials Required

  • Sight reduction worksheet, including the sight-averaging grid
  • Plotting sheet

 


Homework Assignment

  • Review the new and changed pages at this web site.
  • Navigational Stars
    • Please memorize the asterisms and star names on BobsStarChart1.pdf.
    • You should be able to reproduce each of the charts from pages 1 to 6 by memory on pieces of paper.
    • Yes...this is rote memorization. But it will give you an idea of what to expect in the sky, and where to look for stars that have a good cut.
    • Memorize just 23 star names and locations, and you have all you need to navigate in the northern hemisphere. Looked at from that point of view, this rote memorization is not all that onerous.
    • I also find it adds to my enjoyment of the night sky to see that Sirius is due south of me, and know that if I wait for 3 hours, Alphard will be due south of me... and if I wait a further 45 minutes, Regulus will be due south.
  • Reading assignment in textbook: Chapter 8, Planet Sights.
  • In next week or two, get out on a boat and take 4 sights of the same object within 6 minutes. We will use this data to learn sight averaging.