Satellite navigation is standard in ocean navigation, while astronavigation plays a role in emergency navigation. Currently, the intercept method developed by French frigate captain Marcq Saint Hilaire is still used for this purpose. Without question, this was an epoch-making achievement at the time and shaped navigation in maritime and aviation until well into the last century. The irony of history is that it was previously unknown practitioners, a merchant captain and a naval officer, who, with their so-called new astronomy, founded an entire era in global navigation, thereby supplanting the work of world-renowned scientists up to today, because it was too computationally intensive.
Without question, navigating with a sextant using Saint Hilaire’s classic altitude method is a beautiful and romantic hobby and serves to preserve maritime tradition. However, it requires a considerable amount of effort. Formulas must be calculated and graphical constructions made. In addition, the latest nautical documents must be available on board at all times. The method is complex and requires thorough prior training.
For centuries, scientists, sailors, handymen and scholars have sought methods to make navigation at sea safer, and they have always used the most modern means of their time to do so. However, the further development of astronavigation came to a standstill with the introduction of satellite navigation. Without maintaining routine over years, the ability to use it safely is quickly lost. If anyone wanted to use astronavigation as an emergency backup after that, it has only been possible to do so with this archaic intercept method. The same applies to sailors who just want to use a sextant on a whim. Sailing is a classic way to travel, and navigating with a sextant is a perfect fit.
Computer technology has made great strides in recent decades, but It hasn’t really arrived in celestial navigation. There are numerous computer apps that have digitised Saint Hilaire’s intercept method, but this is not progress and certainly not modern computer navigation. It is clinging to a temporary solution. If computers had existed in the 19th century, then the intercept method, born out of necessity, would never have existed. Analytical methods were known long before Hilaire. They work precisely and without restrictions, but they are computationally intensive. However, these are the only real methods with which modern computer navigation methods can be developed that are as simple as satellite navigation on a chart plotter, except for the use of a sextant. After more than three decades of satellite navigation, it should also be clear that astronavigation is no longer needed to the same extent as it was a few years ago. By limiting ourselves to our hause-star, the Sun, as a navigation star, astronomical navigation becomes accessible to all users.