History and Development of Celestial Navigation The concept of celestial navigation was discovered in 1837 by Thomas Hubbard Sumner, a sea captain. Sumner discovered celestial navigation after observing a celestial object and plotting his longitude and latitude based on that object. He noticed that his positions followed a specified line. Sumner then used this method with two celestial bodies and the lines eventually crossed. He concluded that the intersection of the two lines was his position. This concept became known as celestial line of position. In the 19th century a more modern intercept method for celestial navigation was developed. In this method the height of an object (a lighthouse on shore for example) and the azimuth are calculated and compared with an observed height of a specified object. The difference between these calculations is the intercept distance and the user’s position. Like the celestial line of position method, several measurements can be taken to show a position on a line to aid in navigation. Celestial navigation was used heavily in aviation until the 1960s and in marina navigation until recently. Today technology such as GPS has reduced the need for celestial navigation but it is often still taught because it is a reliable back-up method of navigation should GPS or other technologies fail. In addition the United States Air Force and Navy continues to use and teach celestial navigation because it has global coverage, cannot be jammed by enemies like a GPS can, it can be used without ground aids, and it does not give any signals that can be detected by enemies. Today instead of manually calculating measured points however, they are often fed into a computer and routes are calculated. This allows for quicker navigation with a lower likelihood of error. Methods of celestial navigation are also used by the United States Coast Guard, as a backup method for commercial airline pilots and in space missions.
Posted on: Thu, 14 Aug 2014 08:06:46 +0000
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