How to Navigate by the Sun

[bengtmartin]

pretty confusing stuff, although I´m sure absolutely logical

[1Joyeux]

Celestial navigation has always fascinated me, so I designed a solar instrument that is accurate to within 2 arc minutes, with aid of an ordinary watch (i prefer mechanical seiko.)

As part of that was teaching myself how to use a sextant. A very good instrument.

Thank you for the articulate video, well done.

[aweinsto]

Guys, there is a new navigation game specifically design for iPhone devices, called Matmon.

It provides you with an amazing outdoor experience!

The game is based on mission that you create directly on your iPhone!

Unlike similar products on the market - There is no need to load coordinates into your device, you even do not need to know what coordinates are.

You can also share your missions using Bluetooth with other iPhone devices (look for MATMON in the App Store or in Facebook)

[1Joyeux]

@aweinsto How do you spell stone age? E M P

[ddbxyrj]

Every impressive. Thanks. 

[Squarerig]

I speak as a former chip's Master in the British Merchant Fleet.I used all these instruments my working life..Accuracy to within 1,5 nautical miles is guaranteed,if you can use the sextant properly that is.Morning and evening sights with five stars give even better accuracy.No batteries,no power;just a chronometer-clockwork,nautical almanac and the sextant.

[FALLENMAGGOTSHIT]

what?

[HeyitsCalifornia]

Screw this I'll stick to my gps x)

[pgzero78]

Awesome vid.. i had to watch it a couple of times to be able to understand it. but it was cool to learn.

[CoolKillerClan]

you dont need a watch to see north just look where east is and west and your done

[glasgowcolo]

@CoolKillerClan That's hard to do when the sun is at it's zenith

[moneybanking1]

@deppressed1 My doctorate (Ph.D.) is in Economics

[urbanecondetroit]

Nice job! I've added it to my Maps & Mapping playlist for my Urban Economics students.

--Dr. John Sase

[chromzepher]

There is one thing I'm not understanding and that's how do you get your latitude from the time (noon) relative to noon in GMT

[glasgowcolo]

@chromzepher You don't get Latitude from GMT noon, you need local noon to get latitude. The GMT noon. when compared to local noon, will give you longitude. Wherever you are on earth, if you use a quadrant or a sextant, you can find your latitude when you measure at local noon.

[mastrogiorgis]

You're good! :)

[HatafKhalil]

How u changed ur channel logo... plz reply,...

[yellowberd]

as a master mariner and keen cel navigator i thought the video was excellent, enough information and very easy to understand KIS If i need to navigate i dont need to understand all the theory but i do need to know how to find where i am

great work , keep it up

[cloneabe]

How can a watch show you south when it comes up in the east 12 will be north what dose time witch canges have to do with south that is always the same? Making stuff up seams to be what you do

[glasgowcolo]

@cloneabe For instance, if the sun rises at 6am, and the minute hand will be a 12. South will be at 9. At 9am South will be at 10.30. At noon, when both hands are at 12..then we have south at noon. At 3pm, south will be at 1.30..If the sun sets at 6pm south will be at 3. Hope this helps

[lesorciercalifornien]

why does your graphic show the sun going around the earth?

[12ock]

digital clock not included

[nallepuh6969]

This is the first bloody video that actually tells how to calculate this stuff

[chesley69]

I don't need to navigate by the sun. If I ever were lost, then I would probably be on vacation in a foreign country, in which case I would simply ask someone for directions. You know; back to my hotel, to a restaurant, to the closest public bathroom if my bowels were about explode, etc.

[smelzlikeflowerz]

Psh, i knew this when i was 10 thanks to runescape =P

[patolorde]

wtf where is south? 0:38

[patolorde]

wtf is south?

[pirskwayrd]

The sun revolves around the Earth! Dude you should publish.

[ArtemTishakov]

why do those kinds of videos are not being watched, fred, shane dawson is being watched a lot. However not those kinds of videos. I can't change anything, but that is unfair

[dja1312]

my brain took a dump

[thedash3004]

aaaaaaaaarrrrrrrrrrrrggggggggg­ggggghhhhhhhhhh big words...

[BobSmiIey]

what a loser i want to know how to navigate by sun without all the fancy equiptment

[frank0067]

no offense but your ability to instruct seems to be a challenge

if ya don't mind advise.. is that you need to not stream continuous information like a barrage .. rather pace upon the development of the points generated.. a great big mistake is folks,assume others will know certain things and leave gaps, as well as not being minded or able to simplify everything, another great error.

[70TheProfessor]

Your moving graphics are great. I wish we had you tube 20 years ago when I inherited my grandfather's sextant. I eventually figured out these methods from books, but it took days!

[slaimouf]

may i ask...why did u have 8 points on the last graph...do you check miday angles between the horizon and the sun on your watch for 8 days? or did you mean a weak ? or are more trials just better?

[slaimouf]

@slaimouf week* srry

[dcolarusso]

@slaimouf the 8 points all take place on the same day around noon time. When exactly they happen isn't as important as that noon is somewhere in the "middle." Of course, they have to be close enough together that you can actually tell when noon was. That is, you are trying to find the sun's highest altitude (which happens at noon). For more information, you might want to Google "noon site." I hope that helps.

[trailkeeper]

Technically the axis of the Earth does not tilt much throughout the year at all. The axis that the Earth spins on is always pointed very close to the Pole Star (Polaris), regardless of season, time of year. The "axis tilt" is only an "apparant tilt", and this is the angle with respect to the solar plane of the sun. This effect is due to the Earth being on different sides of the Sun throughout the year. If anyone wants a simple tilt formula then message me.

[uzedaman]

thats genius about the watch, does it matter where the minute and hour hand are? did you come up with that yourself?

[lochinvar00465]

@uzedaman The trick of finding south using only a watch is an old Boy Scout trick I learned back in the 60's. It was in the "Boy Scout Handbook". Just ignore the minute hand, and line up the hour hand to the sun. Then, find noon (12) on your watch. Due south will be exactly between the hour hand and the 12 on your watch.

[BobSmiIey]

@lochinvar00465 that is only if your in the northern hemisphere, if your in the south hemisphere you must point the 12 at the sun and its the difference in between the 12 and your hour hand

[BobSmiIey]

@lochinvar00465 and also that method is less accurate the closer to the equator you are

[timonix2]

i remember a tv show, the placed a couple of scientists or just clever people on some random place on earth and they had to find what country they where in. and at the end of the show they where given a world map and was supposed to point out their position. If i just can remember what name the show had XD

[xf4ktor]

what is the sun. its a ball of light

[NINJACHESSMASTER]

my watch stopped working but i feel better after watching this as i am only on earth twice every day it doesn't affect me. :)

[carriefwb]

nice video very clear. thanks

[loumast123456789]

i feel smarter curse you youtube ur supposed t have funny videos D8

[gamesbok]

I have a digital watch. I wound up in Pittsberg.

[fabsthegreat123]

What's funny is I thought this was literally a video on how some form of shuttle or transport could navigate people by the sun...

[svprovidence]

Really nicely done! I used to teach field expedient navigation (land) and frankly since taking up sailing it's been GREAT learning CelNav and the history of the brilliant people who developed it.

Thanks for posting this excellent video.

-RadioRay

[dcolarusso]

Thanks for the kind words. They're really appreciated. Celestial navigation was one of my favorite classes back in school, and I figured I should share.

[Agentoxedo07]

Holy-Terrorist:>wtf, the earth have rotation with the sun, and the rotation earth sun haved 1year !!!

[polarkerr]

and by the way, good explanation

[polarkerr]

At night The North star "the great bear pointing to Polaris" can be used for the northern Hemisphere.

Sextant: Go Abbassyd Empire

[polarkerr]

Don't forget the shadows, can tell a lot

I use them to figure out my day's prayer times.

[xeleft85]

thank you. =)

[joe2sam888]

Very informative. Thank you

[GetMeThere1]

Excellent. Good basic info that too few people know.

I USED to know the hour-hand vs south trick and FORGOT IT. I'd tried finding it online and couldn't. Glad you reminded me!

[Karletto555]

great. i had this in school and i still love it. thay didn't explain to us about artificial horizont tho.

[judgementIV]

thank you

[rafaelrdzc]

ese tipo esta loko

[socomcygnusx1]

Finally, a science video with facts, not soon to be 'corrected' theory. ;) Thanks.

[xxAdamLambertFanxx]

Good explanation with a few down to earth tips that everyone can follow

[dcolarusso]

Thanks.

[geezablade]

for me it was hard as i need a real compass to know how accurate i was it seemed a little off for me downunder

[dcolarusso]

Keep in mind the following: (1) If you're in the Southern Hemisphere, halfway between the hour-hand and "noon" is due north; (2) we're talking about true north, not magnetic north; and (3) both standardized time zones daylight savings introduce error as this method was devised to work with local time. Also, there's some error introduced around sunrise and sunset due to the angles involved.

[ghostrider433]

i can tell my teacher about this... we are learning about how to fine latitude with a homemade thingymajigger we made...

[dcolarusso]

Great. I hope it's helpful.

[aznmaplemaster]

i still don't get it..

[thelosthikers]

well i dont know if i really can help but heres i learned it.

1) remember sun rises east and sets west

2) On your watch, point the hour hand at the sun and half way between the hour hand and 12 is South.

[fakhribohang]

Hi i think what he was trying to say is that when you are in the north hemisphere then the halfway between your hour hand (pointing to the sun) and the noon (which does not always have to be 12) is south. your noon will always create 90 degree angle with your hour hand which is pointing the sun. since our 12-hour watch rotate twice as fast as the sun rotation in one day.

[819726]

yeah because everyone carries that shit on them

[Emb21]

very intersting...they should teach this is in public schools.

[dcolarusso]

I used to.

[Dudeuseyourbrain]

@Emb21 no that would go against our government's policy of teaching useful things.

[polozine]

@Emb21 exactly but instead, we are more worried about how many apples Sarah has more than Jim..very frivolous.

[slmskrpk]

Posting to say, this was amazing!

[dcolarusso]

Thanks. I'm glad you liked it.

[Dontbustthecrust]

hey this is terrific information but yeah... if i needed to look up declination on the web I'd just look up the longitude and latitude and be done with it.

[dcolarusso]

Fair enough. When I need to do complex calculations I usually consult a calculator and I'm always using my GPS. They're faster and more accurate, but sometimes it's nice to go old school. ;)

[Dontbustthecrust]

oh no I know what you mean. I go old school sometimes too. It gives you the same sort feeling of accomplishment as building a stupidly complex rube gold-berg machine.

[boredman443]

I don't think this would be very useful though. I'm trying to come up with a situation in which this could help but it isn't easy. It's down to two.

--You time travel to an empty sailing ship with instruments and charts on board.

--You are stranded with no recolection of your position during a rally race accident.

[abdula31]

No.. When you're really aware of this, you can easy orient yourself. Even without a watch..

[boredman443]

You determine your coordinates with this method. That really won't help you unless you have charts to help.

[abdula31]

i don't mean the coordinates directly, and you don't need charts. This is not only to determine coordinates.

[dcolarusso]

I still often use the Sun to orient myself to the cardinal directions which is helpful when driving. On a long road trip in the absence of clear signage, I once pointed out we were heading the wrong way because the Sun was on the wrong side of the car. Admittedly, however, the latitude was not important. ;)

[boredman443]

Yeah. I always use the sun for time.

[abdula31]

Haha, yes thanks for the explanation. Well all i can say is that this information is valuable as much as GPS, so i'm glad you posted it.

[alphabees]

and david do u live in somerville?

[alphabees]

hey david, that is so cool and i made 1 similar to it but uses real protracter and ruler

[abdula31]

Well yes it's pretty much information :)

[abdula31]

Very nice, but please don't spin the big earth around the small sun, it makes me dizzy.

[blacksilkblacksilk]

This is cool stuff, and actually telles everything you need to know, therefore my question may seem redundant, but could you post a video where you actually demontrate the usage of these homemade devices to do landnavigation?

Best regards

silk

[abdula31]

you mean the sextant? Sailors tend to lose some sight because of those at daylight.

[headintheclouds109]

mr c, you're cool! and you make cool videos and teach cool classes because you're cool.

[dcolarusso]

Thanks for the sentiment. There's not an old student hiding behind that user name is there?

[coantte]

I thank you so much for responding I'd like to pose a question for you and that is do all the planets revolve around the sun in the same speed? I believe they do (which is 1037 1/3mph ; what do you think?

[dcolarusso]

They do not. How fast a planet orbits depends on how far away it is from the Sun. Google "Kepler's laws of planetary motion" and check out his third law.

[coantte]

I believe thats a lie to keep people off track so it becomes immpossible for them to tap into other energy sources and ways to navigate across the universe. if you don't believe in ufo's check out the 'disclosure project'

[coantte]

is the north your talking about true north or magnetic north? ; excellent video by the way!

[dcolarusso]

true north, and thanks for the kind words.

[jamesbensley1]

Very good video Thanks

[langerCAN]

these videos are awesome. never seen them before lol.

[harshm2u]

Ah, that was awesome!

[dcolarusso]

Thank you kindly.

[Prophestus]

These are great videos. This is what youtube is for.

[dcolarusso]

Thanks, since leaving the classroom, this has been the primary outlet for feeding my teaching habit. I'm hoping to produce something new in early January. So stay tuned.

[Sprunk12]

might sound corny but i think its important to know little things like this.

[dcolarusso]

No argument from me.

[PvtPorky]

damn this Digital Watches!!! Grrr

[zipalho]

i rather buy a GPS :) but great explanation prof ;)

[TroyJone]

It was clear enough but presented too quickly.

[madmax797]

i think too much material was packed in this video for this duration.. and we need example like for the lattitude/longtitude

[panterastang]

you go in the cage, cage goes in the water, sharks in the water

[techdudezz]

Some of this stuff are too advanced :(

[dcolarusso]

May I ask what wasn't clear?

[Prometheus1st]

I thought it was pretty danged professional. From the perspective of a person growing up in the 70's-80's and watching "professional" instructional videos at school...you are light-years ahead.

Don't take that as a dig.

I am saying...that I really actually enjoyed YOUR video, which has more editorial impact that a dry interpretation of production quality, etc.

Disagree? Check out the movie "Prime" which was filmed for a RIDICULOUSLY low budget and is a GREAT movie.

Regards...

[GalaxyCom]

I liked it, i thought your explanation was really clear! thanks, I'm an Astronomy buff my self!

[nosiriwonthaveapples]

excellent, just need to watch it a few more times to never get lost again...

[Wiegieboard]

This was a great video.

[roboman79]

wow thats cool!

[2Punk2Wipe]

i love it, i'll never get lost again thx!

[dcolarusso]

Working on this, it has become clear to me that I really need a digital camera. My built-in iSight is great, but really limiting. I'm rather disappointed with its effect on production quality. I also really need a good mic. :(

Anywho, this was an entry in a contest. If I had more time I would have borrowed some nice gear, and I would have included some music as well. I have to admit, however, I'm quite happy that I hit the 5 min limit dead on, and it's not bad for a two-day turn around.