If you find yourself in an extreme situation, when you need to find out the cardinal points, and there is no compass at hand, an ordinary watch will come to your aid. You can determine the north by the clock both during the day and at night, the only condition is that you need to know exactly the position of the sun or moon, although solid clouds can make it difficult to find.
Necessary
clock
Instructions
Step 1
During the day, that is, from 6 am to 6 pm, use the following method. Position the dial so that the hour hand points to the sun.
Step 2
Divide the angle between the hour hand and 1 on the dial in half. The bisector of the angle will point to the south, with the south being to the right of the sun until 1 pm (13:00), and to the left after 1 pm. Accordingly, the ray extended from the bisector in the opposite direction will point you to the north.
Step 3
Please note that it is possible to determine the north by this method only approximately, since in different regions the summer time in which the country lives is ahead of the zone time in different ways: by 1-2 hours - that is, noon does not come exactly at 1 pm, but in the period from 13: 00-14: 00. In addition, residents of some CIS countries live by daylight saving time, which is one hour ahead of the standard time, so the sun will be at its zenith no earlier than 14:00.
Step 4
At night, you need the moon to determine the cardinal points. First try to determine at what time the sun would be in the same direction as the moon at the moment.
Step 5
Divide the disk of the moon (even if the entire moon is not visible) mentally into six horizontal lobes. Determine how many of the parts are currently visible. That is, if only a thin month is visible, conclude that one of six parts is visible, and if the moon is almost full, five out of six parts are visible.
Step 6
Look at the time at the moment (round up to the number of hours, for example, 3 a.m.). If the moon is coming, that is, the right side of the disk is visible, add the visible number of shares, if it decreases (the left side is visible), subtract the same amount.
Step 7
Mark this number on the dial and proceed in exactly the same way as when determining the cardinal points from the sun and hours. Find the angle between the number 1 and the resulting number and divide it in half, the bisector of the acute angle points to the south. Accordingly, the opposite side is north.
Step 8
Try to determine the position of the north by the moon and hours approximately, without any calculations. If the moon is in the first quarter (the crescent teeth are looking to the left) - at 19:00 it will be in the south, therefore, the north will be in the opposite direction. On a full moon, the moon points south at one o'clock in the morning. In the last quarter (the prongs are directed to the right), it will be located in the south at 7 am. Stand with your back to it and the north will be right in front of your eyes.
