To get to the cozy corners of the wild and unexplored nature, where you can find pristine peace and quiet, you sometimes need to go a long way. It is unlikely that those places where a wide road has been laid should lay a route in search of a relaxing holiday. To get to the desired goal and find the way back, you need to learn how to determine the direction (orientation) by the sun and stars.
On all four sides ...
The main directions in geography (north, east, south, west) are tied to the cardinal points. North and south are defined respectively by the poles of the Earth. East and West - in relation to the direction of rotation of the planet. Conventionally, on the maps of the Northern Hemisphere, north is at the top of the map, south is at the bottom, west and east are left and right, respectively. The principle of four directions was an important stage in humanity's knowledge of the world. On the old maps, the main direction was chosen to the south, since it was easier to calculate by the position of the sun at its zenith. It is also uncomplicated by the method of orientation by the sun to "calculate" the approximate directions of the western and eastern - at the place of sunset and sunrise.
When orienting in space, a person still uses the principle of four sides - “left”, “right”, “front”, “back”. This type of orientation is relative to the location of the person and the directions are not tied to the cardinal points.
Compass Orientation
If you have to navigate in the forest, the most reliable way is to use a compass. In order for his testimony to be accurate, he must be kept away from electronic devices, metal objects and magnets. Before navigating the terrain, you need to set the compass to a horizontal position and remove the stopper from the arrow. After some time, the arrow will take the south-north position, with the red end showing the north direction. If you face in this direction, then on the right will be east, on the left - west. In order not to go astray, you need to more often verify the correctness of the chosen direction of your movement.
Map orientation
Geographical maps have special meridian lines that are oriented south-north. Therefore, before using the card, lay it horizontally on a flat surface, on one of the meridian lines. Or the second option - next to the right (or left) edge of the map, put the compass ready for work and orient the map so that the south-north lines on the map and the direction of the compass arrow coincide. The card is ready to use.
Going on a trip, try to understand how to navigate the terrain without such useful devices.
Using your watch to orient yourself
If there is a compass or GPS-navigator, then this can significantly help to orient in the forest. But these useful devices are not always available, unlike a wristwatch with arrows or a clock widget on a smartphone screen. Only a clockwise direction is sufficient for orientation. If there is an electronic clock or another way to determine the current time, then you can mentally imagine the clock and replace the big arrow direction of your virtual clock with a finger. Further, your mental or real clockwork mechanism must be placed in a horizontal position.
Orientation by the sun and hours
To determine the direction of the cardinal points, you can not use a watch, do it approximately, “by eye”. But the result with the watch will be much more accurate. Orientation by the sun and the clock is based on the fact that the position of the sun during the day changes along a certain path, and knowing what time it should be, we can determine the cardinal directions.
Definition of the southern direction
At noon, the sun is almost always in the south. That is, if the hour hand is at 12 o’clock, it points to the sun at its zenith, then this is the southern direction. This direction at noon serves as a kind of reference point, which we will use in the future for orientation by the sun. During the day, the daylight makes one full circle in the sky. During this time, the hour hand runs two laps. This principle is the basis for determining the southern direction at any daytime. The clock hand moves exactly two times faster than the sun and moves at an angle two times smaller than the sun. For example, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour hand is shifted by an angle equal to 90 degrees, and the sun during this time will deviate by 45 degrees. The south will remain at the same reference point. Therefore, if the bisector (the middle of the angle) between the current clockwise position and the twelve-hour mark is directed to the location of the sun, then the 12 o’clock pointer on the dial will almost exactly point to the south. This is the essence of orientation by the sun.
Features when determining the direction in the morning and evening
Orientation by the sun and the clock differs in the morning and evening by the direction of the angle of deviation from the twelve-hour mark of the dial. Before noon, we look at the angle counterclockwise, in the afternoon - clockwise.
This method of determination is suitable only for local time. If your watch has a time zone, then there will be a slight error - up to 10 degrees. For a more accurate measurement, you need to check the compass in advance and see what position the sun is at noon, and then take this error into account. With this in mind, the direction to the south will not be at a twelve-hour mark, but will differ by a small angle.
Features when determining directions at different times of the year
Using orientation methods for the sun, you need to consider the small differences between summer and winter time. Typically, in warmer months, the reference point can have a shift of up to two hours, which also adds errors in measuring the direction to the south: in winter, it can be located at 13 hours, and in summer - 14 hours. In the winter season, the sun rises in the southeast, and sets in the southwest. In the summer, sunrise will be in the northeast, and sunset in the northwest. Sunrise is precisely in the east and sunset in the west occurs only on the days of the spring and autumn equinox (March 21 and September 23, respectively). If you live in the middle zone of Russia, then just remember that at about 8 a.m. the sun will be in the east, at two in the afternoon in the south, at about 8 p.m. in the west.
Shadow Direction
Experienced tourists are often advised during orientation by the sun, especially in summer, to look not at the bright, blinding luminary, but at the shadow from any vertically located object. At a time when the sun is exactly in the south, the shadow of any object will be the shortest and directed exactly to the north.
Direction determination at night
The simplest method for determining the direction at night — searching for the north direction by the North Star — seems to be known to any person. You can find this one of the brightest stars as follows: try to find the “bucket” of the Ursa Major constellation, familiar from childhood, to identify the two extreme stars on its edges, to mentally set aside about five distances along the line between them. The difficulty is that the constellation at different times of the year and day can be deployed at different angles to the observer.
Definition of cardinal points on the moon
The basis of this method is the fact that the full moon is always in a southerly direction, and the degree of its illumination depends on the position of the sun behind the observer - you. The moon is full - the sun is behind you, in the last quarter - the sun on the left, etc.
If the moon is not fully lit, then you should mentally divide its disk into six parts and try to determine how many parts the sun illuminates. The same amount will be in hours between the directions to these two bodies.
There is also the option of dividing the lunar disk into 12 parts. How many such smaller parts are illuminated by the sun, you need to set the clock back and forth for so many hours and, taking the moon as the sun, determine the direction to the south in the same way as in the daytime.