The Nautical Almanac

Celestial Navigation Formulas

About Calculators
The Casio fx-300ES Plus is an excellent and
inexpensive calculator at about $11. It features natural
input so you enter a formula just as it would be written
on paper. Entering degrees, minutes and seconds is
simple. The Casio has 1 memory position but there are
8 positions for variables so you have 9 memory
locations. You can review many of the previous entries
you make.
To clearly see this page the background is white.
Determine Z
Determine Hc using
(azimuth) using a
a calculator

calculator

Determine

Determine Local

Determine Dip

Noon sight-First

Semi-Diameter of

Noon sight-

Refraction

Apparent Noon using

GHA
obtain Longitude

Moon

Distance from
Position to
Destination

Determine Latitude

Rules to Calculate
Latitude

To determine Hc using a calculator

Hc = sin-1[sin(declination) x sin(Latitude) +
(cos(Latitude) x cos(declination) x cos(LHA)]
sin-1 means press the arc sin key

And now as it would be entered into the Casio

calculator...

Sin-1(Sin(Latitude) x Sin(declination) + Cos(Latitude)

x Cos(declination) x Cos(LHA)
When the celestial body's declination is South enter the
negative sign before it.

Why would you want to determine Hc using a

calculator?
It's faster than looking up in HO-249, highly accurate,
you don't need a lot of printed out pages of Latitudes
from
HO-249.
HO-249 doesn't cover any sight of a heavenly body with
a declination greater than 29 (except Vol 1 for a few
select stars) so you'd have to use HO-229 which is
extremely large.

Determine Z (azimuth)
Z is Azimuth
-1

Z = cos [(sin(declination) sin(Latitude) x sin(Hc)) /

(cos(Latitude) x cos(Hc))]
cos-1 means press the arc cos key
The "/" means press the divide key

And now as it would be entered into the Casio

calculator...

Casio- Cos-1((Sin(declination) Sin(AP Latitude) x

Sin(Hc)) / (Cos(AP Latitude) x Cos(Hc)

The "/" means press the Divide key

Another way
Z = tan-1 (sin (LHA) / (cos (LHA) x sin(AP Latitude) cos(AP Latitude) x tan(declination))
Then to put Z into the right quadrant, apply the following
rules If answer is negative, add 180 to Z.
If LHA was less than 180 add 180 to Z.

The Noon sight

Meridian by Equal Altitudes
First obtain Longitude
Determine Local Apparent Noon using GHA
A Noon sight
willyour
helpLongitude
determineisyour
Latitude fairly
...when
known...
accurately and Longitude approximately.

((Your Longitude Sun GHA less than your Longitude) /

15) + GHA integral hour

Take and record 3 Sun sights one-half hour before an

estimated LAN- Local Apparent Noon. Space the shots

Example
about
5 minutes apart. Record the date and Greenwich
You're
located
W075
OninJanuary
2016
time
of each
shot.atLabel
the44'.
shots
the order21,
they
were
taken2A(Local
and 3AApparent
.
when is1A,
LAN
Noon)?

Wait
The GHA less than your Longitude on January 21,

for the Sun to MP (Meridian Passage) and drop

2016 down
is 72 to
11.7'
UTC).
back
the (at
last17:00
Height
of sextant (Hs) Sun sight
you took (which
wasthe
sight
number
3A) and((75
record
Arrange
formula
like this:
44' the

time
of the /sight
Greenwich time. Label it 3P.
72 11.7')
15) +in17

Answer- 17:13:21.2 UTC

Set your Sextant to the Height of sextant

(Hs) of the
2nd shot you took before LAN and wait for the Sun to
Another
drop
backway
down to that Hs and record the time of that
sight
in Greenwich
time.
Label
2P. your Longitude)
(Your
Longitude
GHA
less itthan

Take the answer to TABLE 3-Conversion of Arc to

Time
and convert
figure
to time.

Set your
Sextantthe
to the
Height
of sextant (Hs) of the
1rst
shotadd
youthe
took
before
LAN
and
wait for
the Sun to
Then
result
to the
GHA
integral
hour.
drop back down to that Hs and record the time of that
sight in Greenwich time. Label it 1P.

Add the time of sights 1A & 1P together then divide

them by 2. Write the result down.

Add the time of sights 2A & 2P together then divide

Noon sight- Determine Latitude

Click here for the complete method sheet- Method to

determine Latitude

Get a general idea of when Local Apparent Noon is for

your approximate Longitude.

For example-If you're near W 060 then LAN will be at
Greenwich time PLUS 4 hours or 16:00 GMT.

Using your sextant "follow the Sun up" until it just hangs
in the sky neither rising nor falling.

Record the sextant height and the date and time.

Correct the sextant for Dip, Index Error and use the

Altitude Corrections Table for the main correction to get

the Ho (Height observed).

Use The Nautical Almanac to find the declination of the

Sun for date and time of the measurement.

Latitude= (90 Ho) + declination of Sun- see Rules

below.
Example
(90 Ho (53 5.3') + declination (N04 47.6')= 41 42.3'

 Make sure to enter the correct declination sign!

If the declination is of Contrary Name to your Latitude
then enter a - (minus) sign before it

Rules to Calculate Latitude

1- Latitude and declination Same name but
latitude is greater than declination:

Latitude= (90 Ho) + declination

2- Latitude and declination Same name but
declination greater than latitude:

Latitude= declination (90 Ho)

3- Latitude and declination Contrary name:

Latitude= (90 Ho) declination

Determine Refraction

0.96 / Tan(Ha)

Determine Dip
Determine Dip using feet- 0.97 x (Square Root of He
(Height of Eye) in feet)
Determine Dip using meters- 1.76 x (Square Root of
He (Height of eye) in meters )
Semi-Diameter of Moon

.2724 x HP

Distance from Position to Destination

Distance = 90 - Sin-1(sin(Destination Latitude) x
sin(Your present Latitude) +
cos(Destination Latitude) x cos(Your present
Latitude) x
cos(Difference in Longitude between Your Location
and Destination Location)
Multiply answer by 60 to get Nautical miles.