Description
The Universal Sight Tube is a simple optical accessory for sextants used in astronomical navigation. The sight tube is mounted on the sextant instead of the telescope and provides a significantly wider field of view during observation.
When navigating with a sextant, a telescope with magnification can make it more difficult to find celestial bodies quickly. A sight tube – also known as a clear tube or peep sight – provides a clearer field of view and makes it easier to locate the sun, moon or navigation stars before the precise observation is carried out.
Sighting tubes were previously supplied as standard equipment on many sextants and are still used by many navigators as an alternative to a telescope for some observations. The wide field of view makes it easier to keep the celestial body in the field of view, which can be particularly useful when observing from a moving boat.
The Universal Sight Tube fits most modern metal sextants with a standard telescopic mount, including models from Celestaire and Cassens & Plath, as well as several other sextants with similar mounts.
Sight tube is a simple and practical accessory for navigators who want an alternative to a telescope when using a sextant, both for astro-navigation training and for observations at sea.
