To get to the cozy corners of wild and unexplored nature, where you can find pristine peace and quiet, sometimes you need to go a long way. It is unlikely that in those places where a wide road has been drawn, it is worth laying 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.
All four sides…
The main directions in geography (north, east, south, west) are tied to the cardinal points. North and south are determined according to the poles of the Earth. East and West - in relation to the direction of rotation of the planet. Conventionally, on maps of the Northern Hemisphere, north is at the top of the map, south is at the bottom, west and east are on the left and right, respectively. The principle of four directions was an important stage of mankind in the knowledge of the world around. On old maps, the south direction was chosen as the main one, since it was easier to calculate from the position of the sun at its zenith. It was also easy to use the method of orientation by the sun to "calculate" the approximate directions of the western and eastern directions - at the place of sunsetand sunrise.
When orienting in space, a person still uses the principle of four sides - “left”, “right”, “front”, “rear”. This type of orientation is relative to the location of the person and the direction is 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 its readings to be accurate, it must be kept away from electronic devices, metal objects and magnets. Before you navigate the terrain, you need to set the compass to a horizontal position and remove the stopper from the arrow. The arrow after a while will take the position "south-north", showing the northern direction with the red end. If you stand facing this direction, then the east will be on the right, and the west on the left. In order not to go astray, you need to check the correctness of the chosen direction of your movement more often.
Orientation on the map
Geographic maps have special meridian lines oriented "south-north". Therefore, before using the map, 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 we put a compass ready for work and orient the map so that the "south-north" lines on the map and the direction of the compass needle coincide. The card is ready to use.
When going on a trip, try to understand how to navigate the terrain without such useful devices.
Using a watch for orientation
If you have a compass or a GPS navigator, it can greatly help you navigate the forest. But these useful devices are not always available, unlike a watch with hands or a clock widget on a smartphone screen. For orientation, only the hour hand is enough. If there is an electronic clock or another way to determine the current time, then you can mentally imagine the clock and the direction of the big arrow of your virtual clock can be replaced with a finger. Next, your mental or real clockwork must be placed in a horizontal position.
Orientation by sun and clock
To determine the direction of the cardinal points, you can not use the clock, do it approximately, "by eye". But the result with the clock 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 trajectory, and knowing what time it should be, we can determine the cardinal directions.
Determination of the south 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 standing at its zenith, then this is the south 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 complete circle in the sky. During this time, hourlythe arrow runs two circles. This principle is the basis for determining the south direction at any daytime. The clock hand moves exactly twice as fast as the sun and moves at an angle half that of the sun. For example, at three o'clock in the afternoon, the hour hand moves at an angle equal to 90 degrees, and the sun deviates 45 degrees during this time. The south will remain at the same reference point. Therefore, if the bisector (middle of the angle) between the current position of the hour hand and the twelve o'clock mark is directed to the location of the sun, then the 12 o'clock indicator on the dial will almost exactly point to the south direction. This is the essence of orientation by the sun.
Features in determining the direction in the morning and evening
Orientation by the sun and the clock differs in the morning and evening time by the direction of the angle of deviation from the twelve o'clock mark of the dial. Before noon, we look at the angle counterclockwise, after noon - clockwise.
This way of determining is only suitable for local time. If your watch is standard time, then there will be a small 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 into account this error. Taking it into account, the direction to the south will not be at the twelve o'clock mark, but will differ by a small angle.
Features in determining the direction at different times of the year
Usingways to navigate by the sun, you need to take into account the small differences between summer and winter time. Usually, in warm 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 in the direction of 13 hours, and in summer - 14 hours. In winter, the sun rises in the southeast and sets in the southwest. In summer, sunrise will be in the northeast and sunset in the northwest. Sunrise exactly in the east and sunset in the west occur only on the days of the spring and autumn equinoxes (March 21 and September 23, respectively). If you live in central Russia, then just remember that at about 8 o'clock in the morning the sun will be in the east, at two o'clock in the afternoon - in the south, at about 8 pm - in the west.
Determining direction by shadow
Experienced tourists often advise when orienting by the sun, especially in summer, not to look at a bright blinding star, but at the shadow of 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.
Determination of the direction at night
The simplest method of determining the direction at night - finding the direction to the north by the North Star - seems to be known to anyone. You can find this one of the brightest stars as follows: try to find the "bucket" of the constellation Ursa Major familiar from childhood, identify twoextreme stars on its edges, 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.
Determination of cardinal points by the Moon
This method is based on the fact that the full moon is always in the south 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 is on the left, etc.
If the moon is not fully illuminated, 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 luminaries.
There is also a variant of dividing the lunar disk into 12 parts. How many of these smaller parts are illuminated by the sun, so many hours back or forward you need to set the clock and, taking the Moon for the Sun, determine the direction to the south in the same way as in the daytime.
