Notes on Celestial Navigation

The Book

How does celestial navigation really work? Why do we still use a sight reduction method invented 150 years ago, with paper tables dating from the turn of the last century? How accurate is it? Are there better ways? These questions, and more, are explored in this miscellany of extended footnotes to a course in celestial navigation. The main formulae and algorithms are presented and derived from first principles, along with newer methods which have so far only appeared in the research literature.

Updates to the original January 2025 version can be found at the Updates page.

Available on Amazon at https://www.amazon.co.uk/Notes-Celestial-Navigation-Ian-Staniforth/dp/B0DS6DM4BT/.

"Just the book that I have been looking for after having achieved a certain level regarding celestial navigation. Terms are defined and visualized. Lots of references to previous work. Examples and historical notes. Lots of details like the difference between GMT, UTC and UT. Comparisons between methods instead of just the one method that all other books are based on. A book to revisit when you have unanswered questions while reading other books."

The Programs

The programs referred to in the book are available at python-programs and are published under the GNU General Public License.

They are also available as a zip download at programs.zip.

Contact Us

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions about the book or the programs, you can contact us at nav@ian-staniforth.org.uk.