Navigation
The star Canopus, Atutahi or Aotahi here in Aotearoa is the navigator star worldwide. In the photo above, Canopus or Alpha Carinae is the upper-centre bright star. Canopus is the second brightest star in the sky, after Sirius. Sirius is the first bright star on the left centre of the image. To the right, you can see the star Eta Carinae and the Carina Nebula.
Navigation is the act or science of finding a way from one place to another (Cambridge University Press, 2020) in our case, by determining the position, course and distance travelled of a ship, plane or other vehicle, and guiding it to a specific destination.
Navigation is derived from the Latin navis (“ship”) and agere (“to drive”) (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2020).
Celestial navigation uses the positions of celestial bodies – the sun, moon, planets, and stars – to determine one’s position on Earth. It has been used for centuries by sailors and explorers, requiring instruments like sextants and knowledge of astronomy and timekeeping.
Terrestrial navigation involves navigating over land using natural and man-made landmarks, maps, and compasses. It’s used in activities like hiking, orienteering, and military maneuvers. This type of navigation can also involve techniques like dead reckoning, which estimates one’s current position based on a previously determined position, and estimated speed over elapsed time.
Marine navigation is specific to navigating boats, ships, and submarines over water. It combines several techniques, including celestial, terrestrial, and electronic navigation, to determine the vessel’s position and chart the safest and most efficient route.
Aeronautical navigation is the practice of piloting aircraft from one place to another. It involves principles of both terrestrial and celestial navigation, as well as specialised systems like VOR (VHF Omnidirectional Range) and GPS (Global Positioning System) to navigate through the airspace.
Electronic navigation uses electronic devices and systems to determine position and navigate. The most common system is the Global Positioning System (GPS), but other systems like GLONASS (Russia), Galileo (European Union), and BeiDou (China) are also used. Electronic navigation is applicable across land, sea, and air travel.
Inertial navigation systems (INS) use accelerometers and gyroscopes to calculate the position, orientation, and velocity (direction and speed of movement) of a moving object without the need for external references. It’s widely used in aviation, space travel, and for guiding missiles.
Radio navigation uses radio waves to determine position by either radio direction finding (RDF) or using the timing of the reception of signals from radio stations. Systems like LORAN and Omega (now mostly obsolete) and modern systems like Differential GPS (DGPS) fall under this category.
Dead reckoning involves calculating one’s current position by using a previously determined position, and advancing that position based upon known or estimated speeds over elapsed time and course.
Visual navigation, or pilotage, involves using visible landmarks and features on land or at sea to navigate. This method is often used in conjunction with other forms of navigation but can be particularly useful in familiar environments or short distances.
Satellite navigation is a form of electronic navigation that uses satellite signals to determine the location. GPS is the most widely known and used satellite navigation system, but there are others, including the ones mentioned under electronic navigation.
Nga Tohunga Whakatere – The Navigators Planetarium movie
Hari is the Concept Lead and Creative Director for the New Zealand planetarium movie Ngā Tohunga Whakatere – The Navigators.
We play this movie in our portable planetarium.
Celestial Navigation
Resources
Navigation requires the navigator to know the relative location or position of departure and compare it to the location of the destination. Navigation is done by adjustments to the course as the distance changes.
There are a small number of basic techniques that are common to most navigation practices around the world. The first is a sense of direction—which way am I going, and where have I come from? The second is a sense of speed, which enables someone to predict when they might arrive somewhere. The third is a method of transferring knowledge to someone else via maps, pictures, stories, etc.
Pacific navigation
The latest and greatest human terrestrial migration was to find and colonise islands in the Pacific. It was the last phase of human global settlement because it was so remote and difficult to reach. It was the greatest not just because it spanned a third of the Earth’s surface but because those who explored and settled the Pacific islands had to develop an entirely new technology and way of life, one capable of long-range ocean voyaging, along with a system for reliable navigation K. R. Howe discusses in his Vaka Moana book chapter “The Last Frontier” “horticultural-maritime” culture ( (Taonui 2008, 76)
The scaling down of long-distance voyages in the Pacific after the 1500s, combined with European contact, missionaries and modern history, facilitated the loss of traditional navigation knowledge dissemination channels. By the beginning of the century, knowledge had survived only in a few navigators scattered throughout the Pacific and in information cyphered in traditional stories and cultural practices. However, after the 1960s, the traditional navigation methods saw a revival thanks to dedicated people who worked together to decode and share the information available at the time, working with descendants of the ancient navigators or current navigators from Melanesia to Micronesia and Polynesia.
