[don1reed]

I really cannot speak for, Mike, when he and his son originally wrote the Python program for Stellarium; but, it was presumed it was for those of us that had previous knowledge and use of real life, celestial navigation. The genious of his application is that it is flexible enough to be modified along with each new version of Stellarium, either by design or accident.

Apparently it's beginning to take notice. A "build it and they will come" situation.

Sea going celestial navigators took five sights per day, like prayers to Allah, weather (wx) permitting.

1) Pre-dawn twilight--A round of three stars, moon, or planet. Make sure your chosen celestial bodies are spaced about 60〫apart.
2) Ante Meridian (AM) Sun.
3) Noon Sun--when coupled with the AM Sun forms a Running Fix (RFix).
4) Post Meridian (PM) Sun--when coupled with the Noon Sun forms a RFix.
5) Post Sunset twilight--A round of three stars, moon, or planet. Make sure your chosen celestial bodies are spaced about 60〫apart.

Twilight occurs when the Upper Limb (UL) of the Sun is between -12〫and -6〫. The (-) sign indicates that the Sun is below the horizon.

Sun Rise occurs when the UL of the Sun is rising and is precisely even with the Ocean's horizon--NOT when it's half way above the horizon as in the game.

Sunset occurs when the UL of the Sun is dipping and is precisely even with the Ocean's horizon--NOT when it's half way below the horizon as in the game.

When you decide to take a virtual sight while playing SH3/4, pause the game and do a save. Doing this causes the game to write your true geographical coordinates to the save games file.

Open Python enter the date and time, in Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) within their respective focus boxes. All time for navigation is done by Greenwich time. After entering the time, Python should automatically open Stellarium.

I'll continue this post when I get to a PC. I'm currently using an iMac and don't have my files readily avail.