﻿ Solar navigation: Planetarium

Solar navigation

13 June, 2010

Earth's magnetic field.
Earth's magnetic field.

Question: I would like to know if there is any way I can take a compass reading of a building's facing direction using the reference of the sun (to detect a true south direction)? I am having problems taking accurate compass readings due to interference from a man-made magnetic field (like underground wiring and light poles) – can you help?


But putting that small difference aside, it is possible to find south using the position of the Sun in the sky but it will be hard to be really accurate. However, a reasonable result good for most purposes can be got by observing the motion of the Sun across the sky.



Comments (2)

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Darren 11 April, 2013 14:57
I'm a photographer interested in capturing the Milky Way. Is there a programme that I can use to determine the exact position in the sky of the 'rise & set' of the Milky Way?
Discovery Centre 13 April, 2013 12:31

Hi Darren,

A good one to try is STELLARIUM, a free open-source planetarium program for personal computers. Like all programs it may take a little getting used to as you navigate and understand the options but it is quite popular.  Also here’s a site that lists and links to many free, shareware or commercial programs for use in most computer operating systems, plus lots of other useful information and links. Hope this helps!

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