WinAstro Celestial Navigation Software

Taking a sight on Captain Cook's Endeavour

WinAstro Software

WinAstro takes the tedium of sight reducion calculations out of astro navigation (also known as celestial navigation). You can use WinAstro to plan your sight, then take your fix with your sextant, and in seconds have a Line of Position (LOP) calculated, without the need for any almanacs or tables.

WinAstro lets you enjoy the satrisfaction of astro navigation without the need to buy annual sight reduction tables or to get bogged down in tedious arithmetic. You do the skilled part of using the sextant, and the computer carries out all the celestial navigation calculations for you.

Why Astro Navigation?

In these days of GPS, you may ask yourself why would anyone still want to use a sextant. There are two reasons. First, GPS is not 100% reliable. From time to time there are system failures (normally due to a satellite failing or transmitting incorrect data), or there may be problems with your system on board - the antenna or unit could fail, or be subject to problems such as electrical interference. In these situations it is good to have a fall-back navigation system that you can use, and the benefit of a sextant is that it is totally independent of any other system.

Secondly, it is enjoyable. There is a great satisfaction to be had by using the sextant to take a signt on the sun, moon, a planet or a star, and then using this to calculate your position.

Books on WinAstro Web Site We are please to now offer a range of books on astro navigation and sextants - both practical and entertainging - through our partners Amazon (for new) and AbeBooks (for second hand editions). Come and have a browse in our bookoshop....	WinAstro Reviewed by Practical Boat Owner Practical Boat Owner has reviewed WinAstro and given it a very good *** rating. You can read the review here on the ybw.com web site.
WinAstro now with Planetarium Software WinAstro is now supplied with a separate planetarium program, Stellarium, that lets you see the sky at night from your location, and identify the stars, planets and constellations. This helps you identify the body you want to take a sight on, and more generally to identify all the objects in the sky - a great way to make those night watches more interesting!	If only he had a sextant (and WinAstro) Organisers of the Charente Maritime Bahia TRansat 6.50 race were increasingly worried about the skipper Alexandre Scrizzi, who missed the finish by over 300 miles. They hired a plpane to search for him, and then the Brazilian Navy and Air Force were called out. It turned out that he was fine, but his GPS had failed north of the equator, and he thought he was 400 miles North of his position. I bet he wished he'd carried a sextant! Read the full story in French here.
WinAstro reviewed by Seil (in Norwegian) The Norwegian magazine Seil has reviewed WinAstro. The report, written by Terje Bølstad, is available for reading on Seil's web site - he has been an enthusiastic user of WinAstro for many years..

WinAstro - Celestial Navigation on your PC

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Why Astro Navigation?