MdR Nav Club

03/22/2021

In the here and now, people have put up whole constellations of human made stars and can now navigate to small fraction of an inch as they travel the Earth. An important overlooked feature of this new system is that you can be locked out instantly at any moment.
The use of the constellations of natural stars is known in these days as Celestial Navigation. It is an Art and Skill to be practiced and is still being perfected. Not bad to know about for use as backup. These stars are free to use and will be around for longer than humans will be around to see them.

02/03/2021

Trivia Post

Ever wonder why sextants were standardized measure angles up to
120 degrees?
I mean why would one be trying to measure something more than 90 degree overhead?

The navigational authorities of that time were holding out hope there could be a practical, purely celestial solution. This took the form of lunars, measuring the angle between the moon and reference stars and planets, basically using the moon as an hour hand as it related to the sky's stars and planets

06/16/2019

Practicing with an Artificial Horizon in the desert near what used to be the town of Hinkley

06/16/2019

Welcome to the Marina Del Rey Navigation Club!

We will primarily be exploring Celestial navigation.
First class will be Latitude & Longitude at noon.
Further topics will be lines of position sun, planets, moon.
If there is the interest, there is the possibility of chartering a vessel and going after a 7 star fix in Santa Monica Bay using H.O. 249 Selected Stars.
This is to be a fun, collaborative adventure.
Open to suggestions of additional topics

Thanks!

05/21/2019