The Star Finder Book

4.2/5 ( ratings)

A complete guide to the many uses of the 2102-D Star Finder

Some things change, some things stay the same. After more than 30 years in print, we find that the virtues and values of this book and the Star Finder it discusses have not changed. For navigators who might rely on celestial navigation, or for anyone who cares to learn more about star and planet ID and how these bodies move across the sky, this book remains a wonderful resource. The new redesigned format of the book makes it much easier to read than the earlier editions. It has also been enhanced with numerous diagrams on finding directions from the stars.

This book turns the 2102-D Star Finder into a hand-held planetarium, which will become your most important tool for star ID and for planning star and planet sights. It also includes many unique practical tables not found elsewhere, such as how to tell the best use of the moon from its age, how to compare brightness of stars and planets in an easy way, which stars are reddish, and more.

Includes a general discussion of choosing and optimizing star-planet sights and how to optimize sun-moon fixes during the day, along with general tips on practical celestial navigation. Plus how to use the Star Finder as a solar compass if your magnetic compass should fail.

Extensive realistic examples worked out in full numerical detail. This is definitely a specialized book. But it will certainly tell you all you ever wanted to know about the Star Finder — and probably more! — but it is organized in a way that is easy to use to find what you need.

We prepared this book in about 1984 when we learned that nearly every yacht gone ocean voyaging carried a Star Finder with it, but that barely anyone ever used it to any practical value. This book will change that situation for those who take the time to read through it.

Computer programs and smart phone apps can do a lot these days to help with star ID, but few are set up to do this job as well as you can do it yourself with the 2102-D Star Finder.

Remember one important factor when comparing to any electronic device: the Star Finder works when it is wet!.... No, I take that back. Two important things: you can also drop it, over and over again, and it still works! ...and three: it does not require batteries.

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"...Many of the most enduring works on celestial navigation make only brief references to the use of the Star Finder, and some do not address it at all. devotes more page space to the subject that any four or five of the well known works combined.

...a detailed yet readable discussion of all applications of the Star Finder... there is a particularly good section on day-time sights of the Moon and Venus.

...throughout Burch draws useful comparisons among Star Finder procedures and those used in connection with Pub 249, Vol. I and other tabular methods of identifying celestial bodies.

It is a worthy addition to the shipboard library of even the smallest vessel. It is a valuable guide for those who would learn the use of the Star Finder for the first time, and it will expand the understanding and insights of many who are already familiar with the 2102-D."

— Roger Jones, The Navigation Foundation, Newsletter, Vol. 12

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"Every serious student of celestial navigation knows about the 2102-D Star Finder.... standard texts on navigation make only brief mention of its basic functions. Thus there was a need to learn the numerous other valuable ways this device can be employed... which prompted the appearance of this book.