The Place of Astronomy in Navigation

Extract

Of the 293 papers published in the Journal, eighty-two, or 28 per cent, have been concerned with astronomical navigation. This, however, gives a false impression of its present-day importance. There was a time when conventional astronomical navigation provided the only means of determining position, in the absence of recognizable landmarks; and it still provides the only fundamental method independent of man-controlled devices. But there has been no change in principle since accurate time became available through the combination of radio time-signals and chronometers. The papers have dealt with techniques only. The large number is evidence of the abiding interest in astronomical navigation; but it also indicates the realization that, while the principles of astronomical navigation are unchanged, the conditions of its application have undergone radical change. Techniques have had to be improved under the pressure of necessity, so that the practice of astronomical navigation is now simpler than it has ever been.