yup u can make a fix using the polaris ....

Just to confirm Sjizzle, even shooting Polaris, you have to use the more in-depth method of getting your position via Altitudes and using Aries as a known?

For any point between the Equator and the North Pole, latitude is obtained simply by measuring the altitude of Polaris: at 30°N the star is 30° above the horizon, at 63°N, it is 63° above the horizon, and so on

Longitude??
 

I'd like to learn how to use Celestial Navigation in game.
I've read the post here, but I get confused with finding my Longitude.

Anyone have another tutorial or more documentation? (Get get confused easily :06: )
A video would be great too. :O:

New Calculation Spredsheet
 

Here's a link to a new calculation spreadsheet that incorporates the star/sun almanac to find GHA and LHA for Longitude calculations.

http://www.navigation-spreadsheets.com/

No need to use the Online Nautical Almanac to look up tables.

So far, looks like the spreadsheet only works in Excel, I couldn't get it to work in Google Sheets.
I haven't tried it in any other spreadsheet programs.

almanac
 

Hello Sjizzle!
In first page i think you asked for an almanac.For all users here is a link.
http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=135215
In SH4 Nav Package you can find those almanacs.
But from what i see in your first almanac picture (calculate sun declination at 1939. sept. 01 12:00 PM) it is a little difference at GHA column.
Yours is 57.2 N 8 31.0.
In SH4 Nav Package is 57.0 N 8 31.0.
So is 0.2 difference.
Is this relevant?

In the tutorial you are calculating (i mean adding and substracting) degrees and minutes just simply as decimals. You measured 42 degrees and 54 minutes not 42.54 degrees. 42 degree 54 minutes is 42.914 degrees not 42.54. This simulation is simply too simple (in celestial simulation) to incorporate such a complicated thing as celestial navigation. I have no idea how you come to right position it is either your or the softwarefault.

You could give the "illusion" of navigation by enabling sextant and you could read your position (lat/long) at the bottom and find it on the map.

Hello,

I have been trying to follow the steps here, but I have a main problem. I have Wolves of Steel mega mod and when I put the sextant I try to lineup with the horizont, but as you may know we have waves so it is almost imposible. All is moving up and down. So I guess the method to use it propertly is with a sextant that divides the horizont and the sun so you see both of them at the same wave movement and you can line them easier.
I saw in the 3rd page a mod that simulates that. A sextant by a user that didn't know to speak correctly english, but I am trying to find it without any success that sextant mod. Was ended? Can we use it instead the WoS mod?
If we have to use the WoS sextant, how you usually do to aboid the waves movement, or minimize?

Thanks!

Plus I dont see the bottom of the sun it is so bright...

Well my 2 cents:
I enabled stabilize view in gameplaysettings.cfg in the savegames folder where you can individually enable disable things without "punishment". I dont think rocking binocular is any more "realistic" than a steady one as you compensate with your body the ship movement and can view things pretty stady on a rocking deck.

However I am very sceptic with this sextant thing because I do not believe that the coders took the pain of coding dead accurate celestial positions into the game.

Yes.. the stars and sun positions and moon also are accurate. It would be nice to have the sextant that divide the image in 2 as was developed, but I think is missing in some time in the past.....

going into documents SH5/data/GameplaySettings.cfg and changing the NoStabilizeView to False, doesn't change anything.. it continues waving up and down. Imposible to calculate a real altitude angle of the sun or any star....

Not that. The cfg file you change is in mydocuments/*user*/SH5 or something... where the savegames are not the game.

No matter what I cant make it work. My readings is off....

In your 2nd tutorial, where comes the sextant minutes of 51 from? Ist it from the Altitude? that 5142?
The 40 you are refering to below, is that the calculated altitude° Hc in the excel file?
I downloaded the file aswell, but unfortunately it shows #WERT! (~#VALUE!) in the declination line


I also cant get the sextant up. do have have to press a button, once i point it on the horizon? I only can move it up and down like 20° I cant even measure the altitude.

I've been calculating my LAT for the past 3hrs but I just can't figure why my math is incorrectly. Could someone please help me out?

I'm using Tutorial TDC as my mission(TWOS), starting location is 46.41N , 15.10W

My math below:
1/1/1941, sun's highest point is at 9am local or 10am GMT.
Sextant Altitude=56.31, DEC is S23.04
ZD=89.60-56.31=33.29
Latitude=33.29-23.04=N10.25

What have I done wrong here? Why is my LAT 10.25N instead of 46.41 :06:

Any help would be appreciated!

Well, the good news is that your math is correct. The bad news is that it seems your noon altitude is wrong.


The equation for figuring out the predicted altitude of a celestial body is:


asin(sin(Dec)·sin(Lat)+cos(Dec)·cos(LHA)·cos(Lat))


"Dec" is the declination of the body, "Lat" is your latitude and "LHA" is the local hour angle of the body. By definition, at local noon, the LHA is 0°. So, plugging in the other figures from your example gives us:


asin(sin(-23°04')·sin(46°41')+cos(-23°04')·cos(0°)·cos(46°41') = 20°15'


In other words, the altitude you should have measured given these parameters is 20°15'. Subtracting this from 90° (or 89°60') gives 69°45'. Subtracting the declination, 23°04', from 69°45' gives 46°41' ... your DR latitude.


Now, why your altitude is so wrong is another question altogether.

Try it in the campaign. I don't think that time and date are correct in single missions...

So I've jumped back in to sub-simming recently. I've always played Real Nav/no map contacts, but this time I've decided to go all-in on celestial navigation with no or minimal help from the in-game navigator and scripts.

I understand cel nav well enough to get by, but I'm having a tough time getting accurate-enough sights with even small wave motion. I'd really like to be able to mess around with three star fixes and such, but I'm just bouncing around way too much.

I see others in this thread have had this issue as well. Any new advice or fixes out there?

Thanks to all who've posted the various tutorials and other resources here and in the SH3/SH4 forums. Really looking forward to doing navigation to add something to the game.

Small tip: If you select "deck awash" depth, your sub will be much less bouncy and you can still use built in sextant...:yep:
You can also try to pause the game with "backspace" while measuring the elevation of celestial bodies...