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As in other languages, the word is formed from the fact that east is the direction where the Sun rises: east comes from Middle English est, from Old English ēast, which itself comes from the Proto-Germanic *aus-to-or *austra-"east, toward the sunrise", from Proto-Indo-European *aus- "to shine," or "dawn", [1] cognate with Old High German ...
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.
Drawing of the Goseck circle - yellow lines represent the direction in which the sun rises and sets at the winter solstice, while the vertical line shows the astronomical meridian. The Goseck ring is one of the best preserved and extensively investigated of the many similar structures built around the same time.
In the Hebrew Bible, there is frequent reference to four cardinal directions. [5] The names of the directions seem to be associated with physical landmarks for the ancient Israelites living in the region of Judea, e.g. East is referred to as kedem, which may derive from "edom" ("red"), and may be a reference to the color of the rising dawn, or the red sandstone cliffs of the Land of Edom to ...
The point where the Sun is at sunrise or sunset represents the direction of sunrise or sunset. Simply measuring the distance along the horizon between these points, in angular terms (comparing it with the length of the analemma, as described above), gives the angle between due east or west and the direction of sunrise or sunset.
Sun path, sometimes also called day arc, refers to the daily (sunrise to sunset) and seasonal arc-like path that the Sun appears to follow across the sky as the Earth rotates and orbits the Sun. The Sun's path affects the length of daytime experienced and amount of daylight received along a certain latitude during a given season.
This plot was created using the simple sunrise equation, approximating the sun as a single point and does not take into account effects caused by the atmosphere or the diameter of the Sun. The sunrise equation or sunset equation can be used to derive the time of sunrise or sunset for any solar declination and latitude in terms of local solar ...
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]