Nocturnal_(instrument) A nocturnal is an instrument used to determine the time based on the position of a certain star in the night sky. Sometimes called an "horologium nocturnum" (time instrument for night) or nocturlabe (in French and occasionally used by English writers), it is closely related to the sun dial. A nocturnal is typically a navigational instrument. Knowing the time is important in piloting for calculating tides and some nocturnals incorporate