Editing Stellar Navigation (section)

==Navigating==
Historically, the navigator was responsible for the navigation aboard sea going vessels, and later aboard air craft. (VOY: "The 37's") 

During ancient times mariners navigated by the stars. Later maps and globes would be utilized, and with the advent of advanced technologies, came the compass and the sextant, followed much later by radar and sonar. (VOY: "Year of Hell"; ENT: "Borderland"; DS9: "Explorers") 

Once beings began to travel the stars, the navigator, or "astrogation plotter", continued the role in space, while new technologies were developed to aid in that advancement. 

An early form of navigation technology, referred to by Chakotay as "the old-fashioned way", was by use of optical scanners. (VOY: "Unity") LIDAR was another form of early navigational technology. (VOY: "One Small Step") 

By the 22nd century, auto-navigation systems were utilized aboard starships. (ENT: "Doctor's Orders", et al.) 
 
The astrogator was used in plotting courses aboard Constitution-class starships and Class F shuttlecrafts during the mid-23rd century. (TOS: "And the Children Shall Lead", "Metamorphosis")