How can you tell the direction (north south west east) from looking at the sun or the sky?

Posted by admin on March 30th, 2010 and filed under the sun | 7 Comments »

I just need to know, anybody smart?
does this also apply for North Carolina?

By the rising sun’s direction as East.
We can feel what time it is in a day (morning, noon or afternoon), won’t we? From this we know the direction of setting Sun as West. Primary school kids are very smart. Their teacher (one of them must have) told them that if you face East (or rising Sun) stretching hands to the sides, right hand points to south and left hand points to north. Perhaps later generations didn’t pay that much attention when they were in primary school. That is for the day time.
In the night you must be familiar with the stars. If living in a country sufficiently north, for you to identify all circumpolar constellations locate the seven stars in Ursa Major (Great Bear). First pair in these seven (to the right) are useful as ‘pointers’ to the ‘Pole Star’ that marks the direction of ‘North’. Again hand-stretching experiment comes handy here. Point your left hand to the North (‘Pole Star’) and the right shows South, the front is turned to East and back to West !
Ancient man is much smarter than modern man by loads. He knew all the directions because he didn’t have all the modern amenities.

7 Responses

  1. isoware Says:

    in sun situation it based on sunshine or sunset, and in the night it\s need someone who knows about stars places and names.
    References :

  2. LD Says:

    Put a stick in the ground and wait a few minutes for the shadow to move, the shadow will move towards the East as the sun goes West.
    References :

  3. cuty pie Says:

    if it is evening than if the sun is right hand of mine than than i can identify that my right hand side is west my left hand hand side is east my front is north and my back is south.
    References :

  4. harmonograph Says:

    Various methods:

    http://www.wilderness-survival.net/chp18.php
    References :

  5. Romeo Says:

    The sun rises in the East in the early morning, depending on the season the height in the sky will vary.
    The sun sets in the West of the sky, and at midday the sun is at North
    References :

  6. ROBERT Says:

    In a dark forest I look for which side of the tree the moss grows on. Moss grows on the true North side of the tree in temperate climates in the Northern Hemisphere. To answer your question then the sun rises out of the East and sets in the West.
    References :

  7. poornakumar b Says:

    By the rising sun’s direction as East.
    We can feel what time it is in a day (morning, noon or afternoon), won’t we? From this we know the direction of setting Sun as West. Primary school kids are very smart. Their teacher (one of them must have) told them that if you face East (or rising Sun) stretching hands to the sides, right hand points to south and left hand points to north. Perhaps later generations didn’t pay that much attention when they were in primary school. That is for the day time.
    In the night you must be familiar with the stars. If living in a country sufficiently north, for you to identify all circumpolar constellations locate the seven stars in Ursa Major (Great Bear). First pair in these seven (to the right) are useful as ‘pointers’ to the ‘Pole Star’ that marks the direction of ‘North’. Again hand-stretching experiment comes handy here. Point your left hand to the North (‘Pole Star’) and the right shows South, the front is turned to East and back to West !
    Ancient man is much smarter than modern man by loads. He knew all the directions because he didn’t have all the modern amenities.
    References :

Leave a Comment

Please note: Comment moderation is enabled and may delay your comment. There is no need to resubmit your comment.