Navigation Articles The Wonders Of Celestial Navigation Navigation GPS Systems from 136+ Shops. Buy navigation Fast. Long ago, when Marco Polo circumnavigated the world and Christopher Columbus discovered the New World or when the three kings found Jesus Christ in the manger during the busiest time of the year they had the stars to show them the way. Even in the olden days the stars and the heavenly bodies have been giving people signs, symbols and directions. Even before the formal discovery of the science of the heavens, the stars have always guided us on where to go. Up to the present, navigators, seafarers, and ship captains look up to the heavens to look for a sign. Even with sophisticated equipment, the accuracy and reliability of the stars still owns the navigation game. NAVIGATION USING HEAVENLY BODIES Celestial navigation simply put and as the name suggests, is a system that is based on observation of the positions and the movement of the Sun, the Moon, and the stars as regards to the observer and a certain location. During the ancient times, a ship's homeport or the home city was used as the starting position or anchor location. And because of the steady increase of the notoriety of the British Royal Navy and their fleet and the English merchant marine adventurers, the marking of the Greenwich Meridian or Prime Meridian at Greenwich, England was eventually the official starting position or anchor location for most celestial almanacs. Navigation Travelling on London's Tube System? Plan all your UK travel info here with Britains official tourism authority. Early sailors and captains situated in the northern hemisphere would determine their position by measuring the angle of the altitude of the North Star—the brightest star of the night. Some of the earliest navigators would simply use measurements with their hand or use finger widths to determine position on the map using the North Star as reference; as the years pressed on, the need for better equipment was aroused and it was filled in by the invention of the cross-staffs and astrolabes. They were developed strictly to increase the precision of the process of locating the destination. Navigation Explore 5,000+ GPS Choices. Save On navigation. Soon to follows was the invention of quadrants, octants, and sextants which made celestial navigation even easier and more accurate, these innovations came during the time of the introduction of printed tables of maps of the positions of the sun, moon, and stars during various times and days of the year. Navigation Huge Discounts on navigation Free shipping. Another important aspect is time keeping, it is very important and essential that you have the most precise time to be able to time your location properly and plot your course. Ainuddin Mohamad is the Webmaster of the Online Reading Center at http://onlinereadingcenter.com which features online reading resources.