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> when celestial navigation is all but impossible without advanced, expensive equipment (i.e., a bubble sextant). Compared to what the Navy usually steers by,
by cafard 2y ago
> when celestial navigation is all but impossible without advanced, expensive equipment (i.e., a bubble sextant).
Compared to what the Navy usually steers by, how advanced and expensive are bubble sextants?
- knallfrosch 2y agoProbably they use a $500,000 computer that fills a room and could be replaced with a $50 Android smartphone with offline Google Maps.
- HPsquared 2y agoSaid Android smartphone relies on clear airwaves and billions worth of GPS satellites.
- 5555624 2y agoA new Tamaya sextant can run about $3,000 and Chinese-made Astra sextants are about a third of that. (Bubble sextants aren't used at sea.) That's the only "expensive" equipment needed for celestial navigation or at least that was the case when I learned it over 40 years ago.