Not to sound rude, but you've all missed the point of the question.

I know how to take an amplitude and find my location via celestial navigation. I've done both for many, many years of open ocean sailing. I know how to find true north during the day or night (nighttime is easier).

The solution mentioned to find north by placing the sun or the moon to your right or left would send you off in the wrong direction, based on my recent observations. Will your observations match mine???

Just try figuring out where true north is and then look to the sun or moon and see if either lines up to a east-sou'east or west-sou'west direction from you, providing that you are in the northern hemisphere, like I am.

By the way, moonset has been a little after midnight in the central daylight savings time zone.

If I'm not getting the question, then I'll admit I'm lost.

If one can observe the sun on the horizon, and you whether it is setting or rising, then you should be able to get rough estimate of north (or any direction) based on simply figuring that it is rising or setting in the east or west. As the Sun approaches a solstice, or as latittude increases, these estimates will become less correct. Right now the sun is nearer the solsitce, so it is probably not at least 20 degrees off of direct east or west when observed at sunrise or sunset.

But if you are not quizzing about an amplitude or about the thinking that north will be to the left when one looks at sunrise, then I don't get the question. What are you asking about? You're making me curious. Teach me something.

Hmm. I see the sunset every evening. Why would it be west-sou'west? It must be west-nor'west during summer. Or you mean "direction from you (me)"? Not from north? Maybe it's about time to replace your compass? It looks like its arrow have reversed magnetic polarity.

On the same note, what direction is shown by the shortest shadow a local noon when using the stick and shadow method of direction finding.

Wouldn't that depend on both the observers latitude and the sun's declination?

Hi Wildman800,

The azimuth direction where the ecliptic (green line in the picture below) bisects the horizon will depend on the latitude of the observer and time of year. True north will just be the angle you look up from a prepared table added to the azimuth direction.

Example;



Date 10th June 2008
Latitude 58° 28' N
Sunset 22:17
Azimuth direction to sunset 320° 35' degrees
Angle between Sunset and true north = 39° 25' degrees

Am Fear Liath Mor, I think that that's pretty much an amplitude.

Being that far North, shouldn't the sun be setting to the west-sou'west???? It sure looks to me like you are seeing a sunset in the northwest while in the northern hemisphere.

By the way, I've been observing a nor'east sunrise and a nor'west sunset (the same is true for moonset) for the last few months. I've been making these observations between the 30N to 41N Latitudes.

It seems to me that the declination is much higher than it should be.

It doesn't matter much if the sun rises north of east and sets north of west. If you put a stick in the ground vertically and trace the shadow of the tip of the stick, it will form a straight East-West line. A perpendicular line to teh trace will be True North-South. You'll find Polaris on one end, that's North

The sunrise at this time of year in these parts is 04:04 AM with the sunset at 22:17 PM so it really doesn't get dark during the night. Go above 67 degrees latitude and there is no sunset or sunrise so north is just where the sun is at its lowest in the night time sky.



Midnight sun at Nordkapp, Norway. (The Sun is indicating where north is)