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Cardinal Direction: Earth Magnetic Compass

The four cardinal directions are north, east, south, and west. Points between the cardinal directions form the intercardinal or ordinal directions of northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest. There are also secondary intercardinal directions. A magnetic compass uses the Earth's magnetic field to determine cardinal directions, but it is only moderately accurate. The sun's position can also be used to determine direction at different times of day, but this method does not work well near the equator. At night, the position of the stars can help determine direction. The North Star Polaris lies very close to the celestial north pole in the night sky and can be located using the Big Dipper asterism.

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Teodor Nastev
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95 views1 page

Cardinal Direction: Earth Magnetic Compass

The four cardinal directions are north, east, south, and west. Points between the cardinal directions form the intercardinal or ordinal directions of northeast, southeast, southwest, and northwest. There are also secondary intercardinal directions. A magnetic compass uses the Earth's magnetic field to determine cardinal directions, but it is only moderately accurate. The sun's position can also be used to determine direction at different times of day, but this method does not work well near the equator. At night, the position of the stars can help determine direction. The North Star Polaris lies very close to the celestial north pole in the night sky and can be located using the Big Dipper asterism.

Uploaded by

Teodor Nastev
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Cardinal direction

The four cardinal directions, or cardinal points, are the directions north, east, south, and west, commonly
denoted by their initials N, E, S, and W respectively. East and west are perpendicular (at right angles) to north and
south, with east being in the clockwise direction of rotation from north and west being directly opposite east. Points
between the cardinal directions form the points of the compass.
The ordinal (also called the intercardinal directions) directions are northeast (NE), southeast (SE),
southwest (SW), and northwest (NW). The intermediate direction of every set of intercardinal and cardinal direction is
called a secondary intercardinal direction, the eight shortest points in the compass rose that is shown to the right (e.g.
NNE, ENE, and ESE).
To keep to a bearing is not, in general, the same as going in a straight direction along a great circle.
Conversely, one can keep to a great circle and the bearing may change. Thus the bearing of a straight path crossing the
North Pole changes abruptly at the Pole from North to South. When travelling East or West, it is only on the Equator that
one can keep East or West and be going straight (without the need to steer). Anywhere else, maintaining latitude
requires a change in direction, requires steering. However, this change in direction becomes increasingly negligible as
one moves to lower latitudes.

The Earth has a magnetic field which is approximately aligned with its axis of rotation. A magnetic compass is
a device that uses this field to determine the cardinal directions. Magnetic compasses are widely used, but only
moderately accurate. The north pole of the magnetic needle points towards the geographic north pole of the earth and
vice versa. This is because the geographic north pole of the earth lies very close to the magnetic south pole of the
earth. This south magnetic pole of the earth located at an angle of 17 degrees to the geographic north pole attracts the
north pole of the magnetic needle and vice versa.

The position of the Sun in the sky can be used for orientation if the general time of day is known. In the
morning the Sun rises roughly in the east (due east only on the equinoxes) and tracks southwards (or northwards in the
southern hemisphere). In the evening it sets in the west, again roughly and only due west exactly on the equinoxes. In
the middle of the day, it is to the south for viewers in the Northern Hemisphere, who live north of the Tropic of Cancer,
and the north for those in the Southern Hemisphere, who live south of the Tropic of Capricorn. This method does not
work very well when closer to the equator (i.e. between the Tropic of Cancer and the Tropic of Capricorn) since, in the
northern hemisphere, the sun may be directly overhead or even to the north in summer. Conversely, at low latitudes in
the southern hemisphere the sun may be to the south of the observer in summer. In these locations, one needs first to
determine whether the sun is moving from east to west through north or south by watching its movements—left to right
means it is going through south while the right to left means it is going through north; or one can watch the sun's
shadows. If they move clockwise, the sun will be in the south at midday, and if they move anticlockwise, then the sun
will be in the north at midday. The sun rises from east and sets in West.
Because of the Earth's axial tilt, no matter what the location of the viewer, there are only two days each year
when the sun rises precisely due east. These days are the equinoxes. On all other days, depending on the time of year,
the sun rises either north or south of true east (and sets north or south of true west). For all locations, the sun is seen to
rise north of east (and set north of west) from the Northward equinox to the Southward equinox, and rise south of east
(and set south of west) from the Southward equinox to the Northward equinox.

Astronomy provides a method for finding direction at night. All the stars appear to lie on the
imaginary Celestial sphere. Because of the rotation of the Earth, the Celestial Sphere appears to rotate around an axis
passing through the North and South poles of the Earth. This axis intersects the Celestial Sphere at the North and
South Celestial poles, which appear to the observer to lie directly above due North and South respectively on the
horizon.
In either hemisphere, observations of the night sky show that the visible stars appear to be moving in circular
paths, caused by the rotation of the Earth. This is best seen in a long exposure photograph, which is obtained by locking
the shutter open for most of the intensely dark part of a moonless night. The resulting photograph reveals a multitude
of concentric arcs (portions of perfect circles) from which the exact center can be readily derived, and which
corresponds to the Celestial pole, which lies directly above the position of the true pole (North or South) on the horizon.
A published photograph exposed for nearly 8 hours demonstrates this effect.
The Northern Celestial pole is currently (but not permanently) within a fraction of 1 degree of the
bright star Polaris. The exact position of the pole changes over thousands of years because of the precession of the
equinoxes. Polaris is also known as the North Star, and is generically called a pole star or lodestar. Polaris is only
visible during fair weather at night to inhabitants of the Northern Hemisphere. The asterism "Big Dipper" may be used to
find Polaris. The 2 corner stars of the "pan" (those opposite from the handle) point above the top of the "pan" to Polaris.

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