# How many ways to find North can we think of? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 24, 2019, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251 "2019-10-24T19:05:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/21 "2019-10-24T23:39:58Z")
Solar panels will be on roofs that point ‘mostly’ south (at least compared to the other pitches). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2019, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/22 "2019-10-24T23:56:53Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Solar panels will be on roofs that point ‘mostly’ south (at least compared to the other pitches). Or west if there’s no slope on the north side of the roof. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/23 "2019-10-25T04:05:23Z")
Find a Muslim and follow him around until he prays. His left side will be north of his right side (assuming you’re in the United States). ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/24 "2019-10-25T04:42:54Z")
Just watch the sun. It’s pretty simple. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/25 "2019-10-25T05:15:03Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Just watch the sun. It’s pretty simple. Yeah, and the North Star at night. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/26 "2019-10-25T08:29:18Z")
> [@Civil\_Guy](#): > > In U.S. cities with regular grid streets, they’re mostly laid out north/south, east/west. The house numbering generally increases from some civic center. North will be the direction of North Broadway, say, that the house numbering is increasing. …Not a perfect system, no. True of Canada as well, not so much Europe. But the batshit cities of Boston and Charlotte are exceptions. Then there are cities with sections of diagonal, like San Francisco or Missoula. The North X Street system completely varies. In some states/areas it designates the position of major streets vs. a central point. In others the quadrant of the city (many Oregon cities) and almost all streets have it. In other places it’s completely different streets, so N 5th St and S 5th St are parallel and miles apart. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 8:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/27 "2019-10-25T08:43:59Z")
> [@Treppenwitz](#): > > I’ll start with an urban one: a recent christian burial is oriented east-west, with the headstone at the west end of the grave. From this I can identify North. Doesn’t work in Spain or France. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/28 "2019-10-25T11:47:20Z")
Buncha borealists… I’d find the South Pole the usual way using Crux and the Centaurus Pointers. Then it’d be in the opposite direction of that, through the Pointers in the other direction, since they’re basically at the same declination… ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/29 "2019-10-25T11:47:21Z")
There are methods to use the moon, it’s crescent and the direction of it’s shape of it’s ‘face’ (which can also show one is in the N or S hemisphere too). This is a snapshot method and not looking at it’s direction of travel. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/30 "2019-10-25T12:17:03Z")
> [@thelurkinghorror](#): > > Then there are cities with sections of diagonal, like San Francisco or Missoula. Or New Orleans, whose street grid follows the river, at least the part of the city that’s north of it. It’s pretty disorienting; whenever I’ve gone there I almost always feel like I’m traveling in the wrong direction. ---
**Author:** ![ASGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/838e76/32.png) [@ASGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 12:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/31 "2019-10-25T12:29:53Z")
Look around for a large-ish pine tree. Look at the tip of the tree. If it’s leaning it will be leaning north. (This is not a joke. I was taught this by my grandmother who used the pine tree in front of her house as the example. But perhaps only certain species do this.) ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/32 "2019-10-25T12:37:28Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Geostationary satellites are over the equator. Hence dishes point south … ish. (In the northern hemisphere. North in the southern.) Depending on which one a dish is pointed to it can be fairly far to the east or west of south. If you look at a satellite farm of a teleco, cable company or some such you will see a spread of directions. The mean direction will be somewhat due south … ish. Also, _the higher the elevation angle_, the closer the dish is pointing towards the south\*. As noted above, this is harder to do in hilly terrain. It’s also been complicated by the increased use of offset feeds, which change the effective elevation angle of the dish. \*The angle the dish is pointing above the horizon. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/33 "2019-10-25T12:38:51Z")
> [@ASGuy](#): > > Look around for a large-ish pine tree. Look at the tip of the tree. If it’s leaning it will be leaning north. > > (This is not a joke. I was taught this by my grandmother who used the pine tree in front of her house as the example. But perhaps only certain species do this.) Or if they’re Cook pines (Araucaria columnaris), they’ll lean in the direction of the Equator, so depending on which hemisphere you’re in, (general) North would be the opposite, or same direction, as the lean. > **[Scientists Just Solved The Strange Case of Pine Trees That Always Lean...](https://www.sciencealert.com/the-strange-case-of-the-pine-trees-that-always-lean-towards-the-equator)** > > You can find them in many places around the world - tall, lean conifers that can't seem to grow straight. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/34 "2019-10-25T13:03:44Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > Find the janitor of the building and tell him “I’ll give you this nice compass if you tell me which way is north.” I know I’ve read this before, but where? Damn you, where!!?? It sounds like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett to me. Dave Barry? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/35 "2019-10-25T13:32:01Z")
> [@steepone](#): > > Jam a stick upright in the dirt then mark the end of the stick’s shadow, after an hour or so mark the end of the shadow again, draw a line between the two marks, that line will run east-west with the later mark being the eastern end, stand on the line with the east end to your right and you will be facing north I don’t think that’s actually true in general. It only works if both shadows are the same length (which means they were before and after local noon). What you need to do is get the stick, mark a shadow at some point in the morning, and draw a circle around the stick the same distance as the shadow length. Then wait until the afternoon shadow is just on the circle. Mark that shadow and connect them and you have a pretty good east-west line. Here’s my contribution; it’s a variant of the moss one (and about as accurate): if there’s partly melted snow cover, the remaining snow will be on the north side of anything that shades it, and the melted areas will be south of obstacles. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/36 "2019-10-25T13:37:53Z")
> [@RitterSport](#): > > I know I’ve read this before, but where? Damn you, where!!?? It sounds like Douglas Adams or Terry Pratchett to me. Dave Barry? How do you measure the height of a building using a barometer. ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/37 "2019-10-25T13:44:56Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > How do you measure the height of a building using a barometer. Ah yes, that’s the stuff. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/38 "2019-10-25T14:12:04Z")
Find your location on a map. Usually, north is toward the top. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 2:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/39 "2019-10-25T14:25:18Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Buncha borealists… > > I’d find the South Pole the usual way using Crux and the Centaurus Pointers. Then it’d be in the opposite direction of that, through the Pointers in the other direction, since they’re basically at the same declination… +1 ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251/40 "2019-10-25T14:48:27Z")
Put out a pan of reindeer food sprinkled with crushed candy cane bits, then listen for sleigh bells. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-ways-to-find-north-can-we-think-of/842251.md?page=3)