Celestial Navigation: Sun Shot Calculation

This video demonstrates the detailed calculations needed to convert a celestial shot of the Sun into a line of position for your navigation plotting sheet. It follows a sample problem contained in our Celestial Navigation for Sailors textbook, and provides detailed, step-by-step descriptions and graphics illustrating the process.

[@josephlai9759]

Mr Tulsi, your video instruction is an invaluable resource for this and many generations of sailors to come. We are truly blessed by you. Thank you.

[@jaidanfreites9019]

What a wonderful video. You deserve a lot likes and shares due to your amazing and good office. Thanks a lot cap.

[@BobbieGWhiz]

Noble effort, but in my opinion this is why the learning of celestial navigation has proven so difficult. It’s so mired in the weeds, that many/most learners became quickly baffled. This video shows the number grinding of cel nav, but gives no overview of what’s going on. Some people may do well with that, but many will be overwhelmed and throw up their hands in despair. I’m just an armchair navigator, but one way I simplify things is to skip all decimals (I’ll round up or down). It’s hard enough to dial in your sextant correctly to1 nautical mile, so using 1/10 of miles in the tables gives you a false sense of accuracy. While I originally learned using the nautical almanac, I prefer the air almanac. It deemphasizes 1/10 of miles for the most part. You also don’t need to worry about d and v corrections. And interpolations only requires a single page. It also greatly simplifies moon sights. Also, you should calibrate your sextant, so you can skip IE corrections. Get a cheap accurate digital watch that will be more than accurate for a 3 week ocean crossing and skip watch corrections (if a watch is off by one second a week, it would take a month at sea for your location to be off by a mile). The watch should be able to have 2 time zones, so UTC is always available. Skip temperature and barometric pressure corrections as they change things to a trivial degree. Thanks much.

[@sdreynolds1957]

Title of the video is sun shot CALCULATION - I think it addresses that aspect of Celestial Navigation quite well.

[@bosunbones.8815]

I hope you make your reply to Brian's Logic really simple. He's a flat earther and will twist everything you say to fit his narrative.
Just check his youtube if you don't believe me.

[@pascalb4517]

merci monsieur

[@Aonghus53]

Thank you Sir for this excellent video on long hand sight reduction. For commentators below seeking theoretical approach and short hand (direct calculation) method see John Karl's 'Cel Nav in GPS Age'

[@ulfbjorklund5409]

Hi Tom, Very nice video instruction. Where can I buy your training materials? Can you suggest books or tables where I can find corresponding information for 2022? Thanks

[@mdschoolofsailing]

See our website and School Store at www.mdschool.com

[@pumpc00]

thank goodness old ships sailed slow. i cannot imagine doing these calculations on paper without a calculator.

[@TB-zf7we]

What, no flat earthers writing nonsense. Very informative of true celestial math required for navigation around our spherical globe.

[@tjwiets6691]

Well... at least one posted something but is trying to keep it on the down low via a request for private contact.

[@LBBstore]

At 53:42 please notice the zenith of the observer is parallel to the GP of the Sun with a flat baseline forming a triangle. Please show me how you can place this same exact geometry on a globe without having diverging zeniths for the observer and the Sun’s GP. The horizontal FLAT baseline of the triangle is a glaring and inconvenient (for Globers) Flat Earth proof via celestial navigation geometry. Good day!

[@marcg1686]

​@@LBBstore How do you determine the geographic position of the Sun on a flat earth?

[@LBBstore]

@@marcg1686
What’s the Sun?

[@marcg1686]

@@LBBstore The thing up in the sky that gives you daylight.

[@BriansLogic]

Hello, I was wondering if you have an E-mail address that I could make contact with you through, as I have some questions that I feel are not suitable here under your video, I just want some small discourse with you concerning Height of Eye, Elevation Angle 📐, and Circles or Equal Altitude etc. Thank You, Brian.

[@mdschoolofsailing]

See our website and contact info at www.mdschool.com

[@BriansLogic]

@@mdschoolofsailing Ok thank you, il look there.

[@marcg1686]

​@@BriansLogicPutz.