North by the moon

How would you find north?

The moon is a compass or more accurately a pointer to the north star. So if you can see the moon you should be able to find north. There are two ways to do this.

On a fairly full moon you can see a crescent of shadows. The finger in the crescent points to the north.

When the moon is at a phase where you can see where the shadow starts you can find north by making an imaginary line from the tips of the shadow to the north star. Or where the north star is. If you notice how far this is at night, you can measure this same distance in the day to find north

The moon rises about 52 minutes later each night. The entire cycle takes about a month (29.5 days).

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Copyright © 1997 John Goude

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