ReedNavigation.com
Classes in celestial navigation and related topics
Chasing Miaplacidus
Where did this name for β Carinae (or β Argus) originate? An earlier spelling was "Maia Placidus" but that's not significant. Most sources, including Wikipedia and others, follow Allen's "Star Names" (c.1899) which attributes it to Elijah Burritt's popular 19th century "Geography of the Heavens". Allen also mentioned an entirely speculative etymology published by one W.H. Higgins in 1882 (the "placidus" part is clearly Latin; Higgins suggested "maia" might be from Arabic for "water" but that was just guesswork --the sort of thing all too common in Allen's "Star Names"). The name "Maia Placidus" appears in Burritt's "Geography of the Heavens" in a peculiar large chart in his atlas, which was also available as a large linen wall chart. It's his so-called "planisphere" which is a Mercator chart of a large portion of the celestial sphere. It's an oddity in Burritt since it's drawn in a different style from the main atlas and includes different choices for some modern constellations. And at the very bottom, there's "Maia Placidus" which is also mentioned briefly in the text.
Why this strange "planisphere" chart? How does "Maia Placidus" appear out of thin air?? The simple answer appears to be that Burritt stole it (*). I discovered a couple of months ago (August, 2022) that Burritt's planisphere chart seems to be a direct copy (with some high latitudes wisely trimmed off) of a nearly identical Mercator projection of the sky in a nautical astronomy/celestial navigation work, "The Young Navigator's Guide...", published in Britain by Thomas Kerigan in 1821. Kerigan's chart includes constellation boundaries identical to Burritt's as well as the (otherwise inexplicable in Burritt's copy) path of a comet from 1819, and it also includes "Maia Placidus". Kerigan even works some computations using that star in the main text of his book.
We still have no explanation for the name "Miaplacidus". There's little doubt it's a modern coinage. Its origin is pushed back to 1821 at least, in Kerigan's navigation textbook. And now maybe the mystery of Burritt's peculiar "planisphere" chart may be solved. Burritt stole/borrowed the primary constellation artwork in his "Geography of the Heavens" from Jameson. He stole/borrowed his planisphere chart from Kerigan. This intellectual property "violation" was quite normal in the USA in this period. Nathaniel Bowditch mostly copied his "New American Practical Navigator" from British sources. Charles Dickens a decade later was infamously astounded to discover he was a pop superstar in the US despite never having made a dime off any of his books here.
* Alternative theory: both Kerigan and Burritt may have copied their "planisphere" Mercator charts from a third source, which I haven't yet seen. There's a Mercator planisphere by W. Croswell from 1810, which is broadly similar, but nothing like the near-perfect match between Kerigan and Burritt.
Frank Reed
Clockwork Mapping / ReedNavigation.com
Conanicut Island USA
Comments:
My interest in CN started a few years ago as I puzzled over how the stars could be used to find one’s position on the earth. I tried to learn CN through self-study, but I couldn’t make the subject matter interesting and realized that this was not the correct approach. You need a skilled instructor that can guide you through the learning process, and that’s what Frank Reed provides.
In a relatively short period of time I had a solid grounding in CN. Frank has unmatched knowledge of CN. His classes are fun, interesting, and sprinkled with historical context and include as much or as little math as you desire. His visual aids were very helpful and the time spent on discussing how to properly use a sextant to take a sight was beneficial. You will learn how to find stars in the night sky by which to navigate. The downloaded course guide is very concise and includes tables that are valid for 5 years into the future.
You don’t need to be at sea to do CN. I live inland and learned in the class how to do land-based navigation with a sextant, either with a large or small body of water to provide a true horizon, or with no water horizon at all.
Going back 250 years, I understand how CN was practiced through the ages, up to the present time with calculator, equations and tables. Thanks to Frank, I take great satisfaction in knowing that I possess a skill that very few people have. I highly recommend his courses.
Homer R. Smith M.D.
I must admit I dreaded two, back-to-back, 5-hour days, but the time sailed by. (Sorry can't resist.) Thank you.
He also included some 17th century data that I needed. I'm neither a mathematician nor a sailer, but a journalist and author.
Fascinating classes taught by a fascinating and capable instructor.
Lunars class is challenging and fun. Frank presents several different recipes for accomplishing lunars, one of which seems almost easy (kind of). Highly recommended for anyone interested in celestial navigation or nautical navigation history.
Jeffrey Rock
FAA Designated Pilot Examiner
Greg Rudzinski
Retired Merchant Mariner
SUNY Maritime class of 80
Doug MacPherson
Lieutenant, USN sep.
Sam Lyness
Frank taught an incredible class on celestial navigation that brought me from novice to some solid understanding of sextants, their history and most importantly their use as a aid to seeing the sea...and knowing where you are on this planet!
Hands on, wealth of knowledge, great resources at Mystic Seaport, he really covered a lot of ground! There was a lot of math but unlike in my youth, I was on the edge of my seat to soak up knowledge!! Frank made it relatable and real. The sextant which is such an iconic tool of the sea, was demystified. By the end of class i felt comfortable with it. I had mastered how it worked, how to read it and how to adjust it to insure its accuracy.
I came away with all of the cheat sheets and understandings of equations and concepts that breathe the life into what you capture through your sextant sightings.
I would highly recommend Frank and believe the Mystic Seaport with its planetarium, an ideal setting for my class with him discovering this timeless tool of the sea.
Frank did a great job keeping the class interesting with visual aids, both on screen and out on the seaport grounds. Frank had also noticed i was interested in the Draken. This is the Viking ship which had made its voyage across the Atlantic and up and down the east coast, resting for winter in Mystic as the troops regroup, gathering resources for another ocean voyage. He took extra time to talk about and show with polarized film the concept of the "Viking Sun Stone" which is a suspected navigational aide the Vikings may have used to traverse the globe as they had.
All in all i would highly recommend this class to any and all folks interested in learning about navigation and sextants. Informative and digestible, but most of all useful to the point where i am comfortable with the instrument and have the formulas needed to continuing to set my sights on the horizon!!
I look forward to more classes to learn more from Frank and strengthen my understandings of celestial navigation!
Thank you!!!
John
Several things stand out. The course material is presented in a balanced way, with a well thought mixture of detailed calculation, broken up by historical, factual, and hands-on aspects. This type of teaching is well suited to most, as it provides periods of more intense reasoning with relaxation and humor. Anyone can walk away with new-found knowledge. I also feel that the approach of understanding historical context and a simple practical approach is unique. It has gone a great way toward clearing up a lot of my preconceived ideas and confusions resulting from the many contradictory or esoteric approaches found in various volumes or on the internet.
Very simply, I learned a lot and it went a long way toward clearing up a mess. I was fascinated the whole time. The courses and NavList provide the tools to keep learning even after the course is over. I left able to measure what I see with a more calibrated eye for real world application, and a greater appreciation of human history. I can strongly recommend these classes for the curious, the fascinated, the historian, the hardcore navigator, or the armchair one. There is something in them for all.
I also found the NavList community to be helpful and encouraging as my journey continues. I hope I can undertake even more material in additional courses in the future.
"There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats" (Kenneth Grahame, from the "Wind in the Willows")
Capt. Mark
The class was also a great resource for my teaching and my own research interests such as the visibility of celestial objects in the daytime (Jupiter and Venus) and the effects of astronomical refraction near the horizon. I hope to take more workshops with Frank.
Dr. Russell D. Sampson
Wickware Planetarium
Eastern Connecticut State University
Philip M. Sadler, Ed.D.
F.W. Wright Senior Lecturer in Celestial Navigation
Harvard University Astronomy Department
Cambridge, MA
Next at Mystic
- Modern Celestial:
Apr 12,13: Mystic Seaport Museum.
Next Online
- Lunars:
Apr 5,6: online Workshop. - Modern Celestial:
Apr 19,20: online Workshop. - Modern Celestial TWO:
Apr 26,27: online Workshop.
© Copyright 2023, Frank Reed, Clockwork Mapping, Conanicut Island USA.