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.

WinAstro Server Problems We had a hard disk failure on 23rd April, and it took a week for the disk to be replaced, the server to be rebuilt and the web site reinstalled. Apologies for any inconvenience this may have caused.	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!	Mike Richey passed away Mike Richey, expert on astro navigation and famous for his single-handed races across the Atlantic in the 26 foot junk rigged boat "Jester", passed away on 26th December at the age of 92. He was also one of the founders of the Royal Institute of Navigation, and served an apprenticeship with the sculptor and typrographer Eric Gill. Read his obituary 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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WinAstro Software

Why Astro Navigation?