Celestial Navigation Online Course

Comprehensive Ocean Navigation

Printed materials:
Celestial Navigation By David Burch ISBN 9780914025467
The Star Finder Book By David Burch ISBN 9780914025634
Starpath Celestial Workforms ISBN 9780914025627
6 Universal Plotting Sheets

This course covers how to find position at sea from timed sextant sights of the sun, moon, stars, and planets plus other routine and special procedures of safe, efficient offshore navigation. No previous navigation experience is required — the only math involved is arithmetic (adding and subtracting angles and times). This is a practical, how-to-do-it course, which also includes clear explanations of how it works and how to do it well. Plus this course includes other crucial factors of ocean navigation besides just finding out where you are from the stars, such as logbook procedures, dead reckoning, error analysis, route planning, etc. At the end of this course, you will be ready for ocean navigation. Thousands of students have successfully learned celestial from these materials and gone on to cross oceans or circumnavigate the globe.

And you will not be left studying on your own. Registered for our course, you are just a keyboard click away from individual personal help whenever you need it.

All text materials are provided to complete the course. The only thing extra you might need are basic plotting tools (parallel rules, dividers and protractor). If you have no tools now, then our plotting tool kit will provide what you need... not just for the course, but for all of your future navigation underway as well.

You do not need a sextant to work the course. 

No prerequisites are required, we start from the basics. Many thousands of students have successfully learned navigation from these materials and gone on to bare boat chartering or day sailing or world cruising in their own boats. Please see General Course Information and Frequently Asked Questions for more details.

With the electronic components, you can take the complete course with you as you travel, or use it to search the complete set of materials for specific topics. If you prefer to work on your own without computers, you have a complete syllabus with practice exercises and answers in the printed materials. If you want extra structure to your training, then take part in the online course for more discussion and individual quizzes at each lesson.

Each Starpath course includes free access to our online Resources and discussion groups. The Student Discussion Groups are similar to our Public Discussion Groups, but they are much more extensive including all classroom discussion since 2003. We have instructors in five different time zones, so if any question comes up, just post it in the Student Discussion Group for a quick answer—or search to see if someone has already asked the question for an even faster answer.

Lesson Plan

1 — INTRODUCTION, BACKGROUND, AND OVERVIEW
Why you don't need to be nervous about learning celestial, if you might be • Tools of the Trade • Terminology • Overview of Ocean Navigation • Overview of Celestial Navigation • Bird's Eye View of a Celestial Fix • Latitude, Longitude, and Nautical Miles • Arithmetic of Angles and Time • Exercises on Angles and Time
 
2 — SEXTANTS
All about Sextants • How to Take a Sextant Sight • How to Read a Sextant • Introduction to sextant corrections • Exercises on Sextant Reading

3 — NOON SIGHTS (LAN)
Overview of a Noon sight • Details, Virtues, and Drawbacks • Step-by-step procedures for doing an LAN Sight • Use of the Nautical Almanac for finding sun's declination • Practice and Exercises on LAN Sights. At the end of this lesson, you will have mastered some 75% of the overall process of learning celestial navigation
 
4 — PLOTTING AND CHART WORK
After a lot of work with tables and numbers, we take a break and do some plotting • Role of plotting and "chart work" in cel nav • Universal Plotting Sheets • Exercise with Universal Plotting Sheets • Procedure for Plotting Celestial LOPs • Exercise on Plotting LOPs • DR Plotting Exercise
 
5 — SUN SIGHTS
Back to the tables and workforms! • Role of sun sights in ocean navigation • Sunrise, Sunset, and Twilight Times • Instructions for doing Sun Lines using Starpath Workforms • More work with the Nautical Almanac • Use of Sight Reduction Tables • Practice with Sun Lines • This is our most "intense" lesson. After this one, it is all downhill. Now you will have completed some 90% of the learning process.
 
Lesson 6 — RUNNING FIXES
And another break from the tables with more chart work and plotting • Role of running fixes in marine navigation • Running Fixes in Coastal Nav • Step by step procedures for Running Fixes in Celestial Nav • Basic Exercises on Running Fixes • Combined exercises on sun sight reductions and running fixes
 
7 — STAR SIGHTS
Role of star sights • preparing for star sights • Step by step procedures for Sight Reduction of star sights using Starpath workforms • Exercises on Star Sights
 
8 — PLANET SIGHTS
Role of planet sights • Preparing for planet sights • Step by step procedures for Sight Reduction of Planet sights using Starpath workforms • Exercises on Planet Sights
 
9 — MOON SIGHTS
Role of moon sights • Special considerations with moon sights • Step by step procedures for Sight Reduction of moon sights using Starpath workforms • Exercises on Moon Sights

10 — STAR and PLANET IDENTIFICATION
Role of star ID in routine cel nav • Introduction to The Star Finder Book • Identifying Stars and Planets with the 2102-D Star Finder • ID by Pub 249, Vol 1 • Precomputing Star Sights by Star Finder and direct sight reduction • Star Gazing as a Navigator (tricks and tips, some mythology, some astronomy) • Finding directions from the stars
 
11 — IN DEPTH STUDIES OF SPECIAL TOPICS
Electronic Navigation at Sea (GPS) • Radio Time Signals • Compass Checks at Sea • How to Average Sights for Optimum • Emergency Procedures • Checking Index Correction with the sun ("Explorer's method") • How to Check a Sextant with the Stars • An Ocean-Going Nav Station • Offshore Navigation Checklist • Latitude by Polaris • Sight Reduction with the NAO Tables • Calculators and Computers for Celestial Navigation • Dip Short and Sextant Practice at a Shoreline • Using Artificial Horizons • Plastic Sextant Sights • Longitude from LAN • AM to PM Running Fixes (the optimum method)
 
12 — HOW TO CARRY ON WITH WHAT YOU HAVE LEARNED
How to practice on your own • Internet resources that help • Typical day's work at sea • Lunars as a way to advance your skills • Emergency Navigation applications as a way to advance your knowledge • Organizations of kindred souls