The Planetarium at Mystic Seaport in conjunction with the "NavList" online community is pleased to announce the second biennial "Navigation Weekend" devoted to preserving the art and practice of celestial navigation and nautical astronomy, to be held at Mystic Seaport in Mystic, Connecticut Friday through Sunday, June 6,7,8, 2008. In an era where most navigation at sea is done by GPS and other electronic means, a vibrant community of historians and enthusiasts preserve the art of using the Sun and Moon and the stars and planets to navigate across the globe. Celestial navigation enthusiasts and practitioners as well as professional and private historians of science will be meeting to discuss the history and future of celestial navigation. Many participants in the "Navigation Weekend" are members of the "NavList" online discussion group which is committed to traditional methods of navigation and position-finding (information page for NavList: www.fer3.com/
The "Navigation Weekend" will include special presentations and demonstrations by invited speakers on historical navigation methods including the "method of lunars" or "lunar distances" which was once the epitome of the navigator's art. Aspects of sextant use and adjustment will also be discussed, and there will be opportunities to take sights from nearby coastal locations using historic navigational instruments. We also invite presentations on the history of the modern Nautical Almanac, the essential reference for every celestial navigator, which is celebrating its fiftieth anniversary as a unified publication in 2008.
Main web site: www.fer3.com/
CALL FOR PRESENTATIONS:
We invite participation by academics, historians of science, celestial navigation enthusiasts, and generally anyone interested in the practice of traditional navigation methods, both historically and today. Please note that this is not a traditional academic conference, and there will be no published proceedings from the "Navigation Weekend".
Through March 20, 2008 we are accepting proposals for presentations to be made during the three-day event. Appropriate topics include: traditional navigation techniques including Sumner Lines, lunar distance observations, Noon Sun sights, etc.; unique personal experiences in celestial navigation, for example, emergency navigation; anything related to the fiftieth anniversary of the modern Nautical Almanac; other aspects of traditional position finding. Please note: elementary navigation lessons, topics focused on the period before the year 1750, and modern electronic navigation tools like GPS are specifically excluded. Drop us an email through the web site listed below, and we will happily consider your topic for our program. Talks or presentations should range from 15 minutes to one hour in length. A standard digital projector will be available. Some of the topics of presentations from the "Navigation Weekend" two years ago are listed here: www.fer3.com/
ATTENDING:
Mystic Seaport will be charging a small fee for attendance for the entire "Navigation Weekend": $10 for members of Mystic Seaport, $35 for non-members. Some events during the weekend are sponsored by the Susan P. Howell Memorial Fund. Note that the weekend of June 6-8 is also Mystic Seaport's annual "Smallcraft Weekend" so anyone attending the "Navigation Weekend" will also have opportunities to see and study dozens of traditional rowing craft and small sailboats plying the waters around Mystic Seaport. Inquiries regarding the "Navigation Weekend" may be made via the planning web site for the event located at www.fer3.com/
"Mystic Seaport, the Museum of America and the Sea," located in scenic Mystic, Connecticut has been providing education in celestial navigation for over 45 years. Classes in celestial navigation continue to be offered on a regular basis at the Mystic Seaport Planetarium. Daily live planetarium programs focus on constellation identification, backyard astronomy, and historic ocean navigation. Mystic Seaport is committed to highlighting the history of nautical astronomy through its exhibits and special programs both in 2008 and in 2009, which has been named the official, world-wide "Year of Astronomy". Mystic Seaport is the world's foremost maritime museum, home to the historic whaleship "Charles W. Morgan" built in 1841, as well as the square-rigged ship "Joseph Conrad", the Grand Banks fishing schooner "L.A. Dunton", and the steamboat "Sabino". Mystic Seaport's main web site is located at www.mysticseaport.org.
Contact: Frank E. Reed, consultant to the Mystic Seaport Planetarium, www.fer3.com/
