Finding True North Is Harder Than You Think

I like that "trolling ants with mirrors" is an actual job that people have

Little critique: Most early maps were either east or south oriented. I mean, oriented literally means to the east... Both ancient China and Egypt used south as the main compass direction which makes as much sense as using north. The needle does not need to know :)

Turns out that the hunt for true north can quickly go... south

Speaking of space weather, the NOAA Aurora forecast website is called the space weather forecast, and I love that

Supposedly, vikings used birefringent icelandic spar / calcite to navigate using the polarization of sunlight.

Is this the same reason if you wear polarized sunglasses and tilt your head the sky turns a deeper blue?

People have been using the sun to figure out north for millenia. All you need is a gnomon. Also there are several kinds if north like magnetic, astronomical and geographical. Finally ordinary GPS can get you within a few meters from geograpical north (more precisely geodetical) but surveying GNSS will get you within a few centimetres

such great writing and delivery - my favorite science communicators (Complexly)

Thank you for this awesome information.

The midpoint along the horizon between where the sun comes up and goes down. And also a certain degrees from those points depending on your longitude and day of the year

Apart from space weather, GPS gets progressively less accurate above 55 degrees north, or below 55S. Its performance is pretty bad near the poles. It will eventually give the right location... if you average long enough. Since GPS alone tells nothing about direction, to approach the pole you need to wait along time to find your location, move a bit, wait a long time, calculate the direction you moved, correct your direction and then move again. (Most "GPS" units have built-in compasses to complement direction finding.)

Wow thats fascinating!

so, @scishow is going to give us a video on space weather, right?

Credit: Виктор Габышев = Viktor Gabyshev

Eclipse is coming to Erie Pennsyltucky, they are shutting the place down. New battery in the welding helmet.

I use grid north when surveying. It coincides with true north on a meridian, which I'm west of, so around here true north is grid N1°50'E.

sun polarization is a very interesting thing to hear about. Especially since i've heard people talk about some Vikings using "sunstones" for navigation even on cloudy days. makes me wonder if it was some naturally polarized crystal that a trained eye could use to determine "approximate" latitude.

Clever t-shirt!

if it weren't for this year being a leap year, the solar eclipse would fall on my birthday. and im nearby the path of totality. and it's finally my 37th (magic number) birthday. so many coincidences.

Can someone PLEASE make eclipse glasses that you can actually use more than just once?