The basic one
Which way is north?
Short answer
If you are on a phone, press Start compass and turn until the bearing reads 000. If you are not, and the sun is up, stand with the sun on your right in the morning and you are facing roughly north.
North is the reference every other direction is measured from, so almost every direction question turns into this one first. There are four ways to answer it and they differ enormously in how much you should trust them.
The order below is by accuracy, best first. Use the first method available to you rather than the most interesting one.
North · 000°
Method
Step by step
In this order. Each step assumes the one before it is done.
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01
A phone compass, to within a few degrees
Hold the device flat, step away from metal, calibrate with a figure of eight, and read the bearing. Turn until it reads 000 and you are facing north. This is the most accurate option you are likely to have and it is the reason this site exists.
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02
The sun, to within about twenty degrees
The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, near enough, and at local noon it sits due south if you are in the northern hemisphere or due north if you are in the southern. Face the noon sun in Europe or North America and north is directly behind you. The error grows the further you are from the equinoxes.
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03
An analogue watch, to within about fifteen degrees
In the northern hemisphere, point the hour hand at the sun. Halfway between the hour hand and twelve o'clock is south, so north is opposite. In the southern hemisphere, point twelve at the sun instead and the midpoint is north. Correct for daylight saving first or you will be a whole hour, and therefore 15 degrees, out.
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04
The night sky, to within a couple of degrees
In the northern hemisphere find Polaris: follow the two stars at the end of the Big Dipper's bowl about five times their separation. Polaris sits within one degree of true north and, unlike every other method here, it gives you true north directly with no declination correction. In the southern hemisphere use the long axis of the Southern Cross extended about four and a half times to find the south celestial pole.
Reference
The bearings
- North
- 000° N
- The reference. Written 000 on any instrument.
- East
- 090° E
- A quarter turn clockwise. Sunrise, roughly.
- South
- 180° S
- Directly opposite north.
- West
- 270° W
- Sunset, roughly.
How wrong can this be?
Accuracy
A calibrated phone away from metal is good to a few degrees. Polaris is good to about one. The sun and watch methods are good to fifteen or twenty degrees, which is fine for orienting yourself and not good enough to follow a bearing over any distance.
Related
Other guides
No instrument
Without a compass
Put a stick upright in the ground, mark the tip of its shadow, wait fifteen minutes and mark it again. The line from the first mark to the second points roughly east.
Fixed installation
Aim a solar panel
In the northern hemisphere, face a fixed array due true south, 180 degrees. In the southern hemisphere, due true north, 000. Tilt it at roughly your latitude.
Line of sight
Aim a satellite dish
Look up the azimuth, elevation and skew for your postcode and your satellite, set the azimuth as a true bearing, then fine-tune on signal strength.