Finding North During the Day and at Night

Revision – The Three Norths Name the Three North's and Point out where they go on this diagram. Magnetic North True North Grid North

FINDING NORTH DURING THE DAY USING A WATCH

Finding North with a Watch Point the hour hand of your watch at the sun, half the distance between the hour hand and 12 o’ clock. This is due South, the opposite direction is due North. This only works on Analogue watches. This method is for GMT (Greenwich Mean Time) for BST (British Summer Time) take 1 hour off the time.

ANY QUESTIONS?

FINDING NORTH AT NIGHT USING THE POLE STAR

Finding North at Night using the Pole Star In the northern hemisphere the North Star (Polaris) indicates the position of True North to within 2°. It is a bright star and can be found by producing a line from the two end stars, or pointers’ of the Plough or Great Bear. The North Star will be found slightly off this line on the side furthest from the remaining stars of the Great Bear and at about five times the distance between the two pointers.

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Now watch this video clip of Ray Mears showing you how it is done.

The next time your out at night try and locate the Pole Star

ANY QUESTIONS?

Questions Which star is always at True North? The North Star, The Pole Star, Polaris, Polar Star Which Constellation do you use to find the North Star? The Plough, The Big Dipper What do you use to find North during the Day? Analogue Watch

Summary You can locate North during the day by pointing the hour hand of a watch at the sun, half the distance between the hour hand and 12 o’ clock to find South, and the opposite direction is North. You can locate north at night by finding the plough constellation, taking the two pointers and then look along them to you find the North Star which is always at True North.