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Direction determination refers to the ways in which a cardinal direction or compass point can be determined in navigation and wayfinding.The most direct method is using a compass (magnetic compass or gyrocompass), but indirect methods exist, based on the Sun path (unaided or by using a watch or sundial), the stars, and satellite navigation.
The use of the word also means "in a direction opposite to the usual" and "in a direction contrary to the apparent course of the sun". It is cognate with the German language widersinnig, i.e., "against" + "sense". The term "widdershins" was especially common in Lowland Scots. [2] The opposite of widdershins is deosil, or sunwise, meaning ...
Sunwise, sunward or deasil (sometimes spelled deosil), are terms meaning to go clockwise or in the direction of the sun, as seen from the northern hemisphere. The opposite term is widdershins (Lowland Scots), or tuathal (Scottish Gaelic). [1]
Then, when the Sun moves in the sky (from east to south to west), the shadow, which is cast on the sundial in the opposite direction, moves with the same sense of rotation (from west to north to east). This is why hours must be drawn in horizontal sundials in that manner, and why modern clocks have their numbers set in the same way, and their ...
The word north is related to the Old High German nord, [1] both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit *ner-, meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. [2] Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. [3] [4] [5]
The solar azimuth angle is the azimuth (horizontal angle with respect to north) of the Sun's position. [1] [2] [3] This horizontal coordinate defines the Sun's relative direction along the local horizon, whereas the solar zenith angle (or its complementary angle solar elevation) defines the Sun's apparent altitude.
Afternoon analemma photo taken in 1998–99 in Murray Hill, New Jersey, U.S., by Jack Fishburn.The Bell Laboratories building is in the foreground. In astronomy, an analemma (/ ˌ æ n ə ˈ l ɛ m ə /; from Ancient Greek ἀνάλημμα (analēmma) 'support') [a] is a diagram showing the position of the Sun in the sky as seen from a fixed location on Earth at the same mean solar time over ...
Also, unlike most other solar measurements, sunrise occurs when the Sun's upper limb, rather than its center, appears to cross the horizon. The apparent radius of the Sun at the horizon is 16 arcminutes. [1] These two angles combine to define sunrise to occur when the Sun's center is 50 arcminutes below the horizon, or 90.83° from the zenith. [1]