Multimedia Gallery
- Navigation Methods: Celestial Navigation
One of six ships of the U.S. Exploring Expedition, the Porpoise sailed around the world between 1838 and 1842.
Snakes, South America (Callirhinus patagoniensis, Dendrophis prasinus)
Soviet cosmonauts used this device on their Soyuz spacecraft to supplement the ground-based navigation system.
Space Shuttles used onboard star trackers to locate their position in space with high accuracy.
Marine Chronometer, signed William Bond & Son, about 1867.
Weems star altitude curves helped simplify celestial navigation.
This Star Chart was used to train Apollo astronauts.
This sword made from shark teeth was collected by the U.S. Exploring Expedition in the Gilbert Islands.
It reduced computations for celestial sightings through the use of the Greenwich Hour Angle.