FLIGHT.

U'NE 9, I938.

ONOM

NAVlGA

A Simple Explanation of the Principles : The Greenwich Hour Angle : Making Use of the uAir Almanac." Part I
By Sqn. Ldr. E. H. D. SPENCE, R.A.F.O.-

HERE seems to be a general impression amongst airmen that astronomical navigation is a very difficult matter, and in particular that an intimate knowledge of spherical trigonometry is required. If, however, one pauses to consider that thousands of sea-going men of all nationalities make daily use of it, would this not tend to prove that it cannot be so very difficult after all, bearing in mind the old Naval saying that " the fool of the family goes to sea " ? There is also another ancient saying which runs, " What one fool can do, another can," So let us take heart, and try to understand this mysterious subject.

of the solar system (such as the sun, moon, and planets) can also be " fixed " in the celestial sphere by Dec, and R.A. The Dec. and R.A. of bodies other than stars, when seen from the earth, will, however, appear to alter daily as the solar system, which is well inside the celestial sphere, revolves against the background of the " fixed " stars. The question is, how do we find these elusive imaginary spots ? Look at Pig. i.
CELESTIAL POLE "~i? r -V"" ".TJ. ~" ' -:;"

What, in the first place, are we trying to do ? We are trying to find some means of ascertaining our position when out of sight of land, either when flying over the sea or when flying above the clouds. If by some means we were able to find out the distance (in any convenient unit) and the bearing of a spot whose position we know, we could thenif the chart or map were big enoughlay off the bearing and the distance to this spot. It is a very similar proposition to a radio bearing, with the addition of the element of distance.

Fig. 1.

Simple Principles
In astronomical navigation use is made of a number of imaginary spots on the earth's surface, the bearing and distance of which are found as will be explained later. The position of these imaginary spots are tabulated in the Air Almanac at short intervals ot time ; they are the points where a line joining a celestial body (such as the sun, planets, stars or moon) to the centre of the earth cuts the latter's surface. The points on the earth's surface are known as the sub-solar, sub-planetary, sub-stellar and sub-lunar points, or, generally, as the Geographical Position (G.P.) of the celestial body. The G.P.s will be constantly altering as the earth revolves on its axis : their progress is, however, followed in the Air AI manor. A tittle explanation of the theory on which we will work is now necessary Imagine the heavens to be a colossal bowl which is an enormous distance away ; also that we can project the earth's equator and poles, from its centre, on to the inside of this celestial sphere. The projections are known as the celestial poles and the celestial equator The stars are so far away that they appear always to remain in the same place in the celestial sphere, and their positions in it can be fixed by what corresponds to latitude and longitude on the earth ; celestial latitude is called Declination (Dec), and celestial longitude (which is not measured from the projection of the Greenwich Meridian but from a fixed point on the celestial equator) is called Right Ascension (R.A.). We need not bother about R.A. at this stage Similarly, other bodies which are closer to us and form part

The earth's equator and pole, Q and P, have been projected from C, the centre of the earth, on to the celestial sphere at q and p. Conversely, let us project a fixed star x on the celestial sphere, with Declination equal to qx, on to the earth. It will cut the earth's surface at X. X is the sub-stellar spot, or G.P of the star. The latitude on the earth of the G.P. will be the same as the declination of the star. Half the deed is now done : we now want to fix the spot X on the earth for longitude This is a little more difficult (but not much), owing to the rotation of the earth on its axis inside the celestial sphere. Let us now project the Meridian of Greenwich, G, on to the celestial sphere at g. At this moment the longitude of X ois GPQ, west of Greenwich, and is the same as the angle gpq n the celestial sphere. As the earth revolves towards the west and the celestial sphere stands still, the projection of the Greenwich Meridian will take up positions on the celestial sphere such as gl, gz, etc. ; and the angle gpq will increase: i.e., the longitude of X will be continually altering on the earth. The longitude (angle between the Meridians of Greenwich