ABSTRACT
The human race has used objects in space to navigate for many years. In around 1000 BCE, the Phoenicians discovered that the maximum observable elevation attained by any particular star was a function of the observer’s latitude, and they used this knowledge to navigate in an east-west direction across the Mediterranean Sea. With the advent of accurate chronometers in the 18th century, it became possible for navigators to determine their longitude as well as their latitude by means of astronomical observations.
