outdoor living » the 10 bushcraft books » time & direction (pt. 2)

.improvised quadrant

Another method of obtaining elevation of a heavenly body is by means of an improvised quadrant, over a puddle of water, the surface of which serves as an accurate 'horizon'.

A useful measurement to remember is that a degree very nearly equals 1" [2.5 cm] on the circumference of a circle of a radius of 57" [145 cm].

A straight stick is marked off into 57 divisions of equal length. The actual length of each division is not important but the divisions must be as regular as possible. Another whippy length of cane or very pliable stick is marked off into [90] divisions of the same length. These can be marked at five or ten division intervals to save work, but a smaller stick should be marked off into separate divisions for accurate reading between the five or ten division marks.

The straight stick is laid across the puddle, in line with the heavenly body to be measured, and the end of the ninety division stick is pushed into the ground so that the first mark is just level with the water surface. The stick or cane is bent right over till the other end comes to the other end of the fifty-seven division stick, and it too is pushed into the soft dirt beneath the water. The ninety division stick is then bent by hand until it assumes the shape of a semi-circle.

A degree very nearly represents one division on the circumference over a radius of fifty-seven divisions of the same length. The angle of incidence of a ray of light equals the angle of reflection, so these two facts enable you to use this bush-made `quadrant,' and with no knowledge of spherical geometry you can measure the angle of elevation of sun or stars with reasonable accuracy.

Place your eye against one of the divisions of the semicircle on the side farthest from the object to be viewed and look at the surface of the water for the reflection. Move the free hand or pointer stick along the far side of the curve till it cuts off the ray of light front the heavenly body.

Count the number of divisions from the water to where the finger on stick cuts off the ray of light and also the number of divisions from the water to the one against which the eye was placed.

The total of these two will give you the angle of elevation above the horizon of the object viewed.

With care and accuracy in shaping your bow, and measuring the divisions you should be able to read to a quarter of a degree.

.equation of time

Corrections to Standard Time. Each day every longitude of the earth passes under the sun, but because of the slight variation in the earth's path, the exact moment when the sun passes over the meridian of longitude is not precisely at twelve o'clock every day. The difference may be as much as 16 minutes of time before twelve o'clock on your clock time and fourteen minutes after twelve o'clock.

This passage of the suit over the imaginary North-South line is called Meridian Transit' and as you will see it differs from clock time throughout the course of the year, except for four days (April 16th, June 15th, August 30th, and December 25th).

For convenience, the time of meridian transit is averaged out over the year, and the average is called 'mean' time. The sun's passage of the meridian is called 'solar' (sun) time. The correction of time of the two is called 'Equation of Time'.

The following simple table on Meridian Transit can be shown in the form of the figure '8' for your easy memorising.

A figure eight drawn to the proportions shown and with the four dates remembered when meridian transit coincides with mean time will give reasonably accurate corrections.

Note: The four dates when there is no correction are April 16th, June 15th, August 30th and December 25th, Xmas Day. The top section of the figure 8 is about one-third the size of the lower half. The horizontal line is divided into three five-minute sections to right and left, and the right side marked PLUS to mean that the sun is ahead of mean time. The left is marked MINUS, the sun is behind mean time.

The application of this 'Equation of Time' correction will be required if you want to get accurate time from the sun, and also for correction to the sun compass - sun clock.

.longitude corrections

The other correction which you will have to make to Solar time is a correction for longitude. Time for clocks on various parts of the earth's surface is called 'Standard Time', and is based upon the longitude convenient for a large tract of country.

In England, time is based on Greenwich, hence the term 'Greenwich mean time'.

In other large land masses such as America, Africa, Russia and Australia, standard time may be defined as Eastern Standard Time, Central Standard Time, Western Standard Time, etc.

The areas of the earth and the meridian of longitude on which their standard time is based are as follows:

To make the necessary longitude corrections, you must know whether you are set East or West of the meridian on which standard time for the locality is based.

If you are East your sun will be ahead and you must deduct four minutes for each degree you are East of the meridian of standard time. If you are West your sun time will be later than the Standard Meridian and you must add four minutes for each degree you are West.

.daylight saving time

Sometimes a country will move its time back an hour from the standard time to get more daylight in summertime, and this change, generally called Daylight Saving Time, must also be remembered when making corrections to Solar time.

The four 'Times' you now know are:

• Solar Time or Sun Time: Local time of sun over the North-South line.
• Mean Time: Average of Solar time over twelve months.
• Standard Time: Application of Mean Time to a given area of the earth's surface.
• Daylight or Summer Time: A local adjustment to standard time.

There is a fifth 'Time' you will have to learn, and this is 'Sidereal' or 'Star' time.

If anyone asked you how many times the earth revolved on its axis between midday of New Year's Day of one year, and midday of New Year's Day the next year you would probably say 365¼ times ... and you would be wrong.

The earth revolves on its axis 366¼ times.

The earth 'loses' one revolution in its path around the sun over the year and as a result the sun only crosses the meridians of the earth 365¼ times. This means that while the sun will only cross Greenwich 365¼ times a year, a star, which is far outside the solar system will pass 366¼ times every year.

For this reason Star or Sidereal Time is used by astronomers as being more accurate than Solar Time.

There is an extra day to be squeezed into a 'Star' year, a star day is shorter by 3 minutes 56.6 seconds than a sun day You can work it out for yourself. There are 1440 minutes in a twenty-four-hour day and these have to be shared by all days in a star year and that means that there are nearly four minutes less in a star day than in a sun day.

One degree equals four minutes of time, and so the stars advance roughly one degree farther ahead each night.

Sidereal or Star Time or the star charts commence for each year at the day of the Autumnal Equinox, September 21st, and for general purposes you can say the stars gain two hours every calendar month.

.accurate time from the stars

The star maps shown above show the position of the brightest stars in their various constellations. The numbers 0 to 24 indicate the position of the stars at midnight at Greenwich on September 21st, when the star year commences.

0 means midnight at Greenwich, and every number means one hour difference from Greenwich.

Thus ALGOL in the constellation PERSEUS is on the radial line numbered 3, which means that it is three hours ahead of Greenwich. (Chart 2.)

This position of the stars IN TIME from Greenwich is called their RIGHT ASCENSION, and their position between the poles and the Equator either North or South is Called their DECLINATION.

Declination is latitude, and Right Ascension is longitude The declination of the stars does not vary (as does the sun) throughout the year.

The Polynesians observed this, and regarded the stars as 'fingers' pointing down to the earth and always passing over the same places and the earth revolved beneath them.

With the aid of the star map, it is easy to find and identify any star almost directly overhead. It may be slightly North or South but should not be East or West.

To find a point directly overhead, stand upright, with your head thrown well back. Rotate the body through a series of half circles and you will see the stars overhead appeal to move in arcs.

The centre of the circle which the arcs form will be the point in the sky directly over your head.

Having recognised the overhead star from you Star Map, work out its right ascension, and add two hours for every month, or half an hour a week and four minutes for every odd day till the next September 21st, and add this to the time of Right Ascension.

For Example:

The star Antares, the very bright star in the Scorpion, you read as 16 hours 25 minutes Right Ascension. The date if it is overhead is March 25th. From March 25th to September 21st. there are five months, three weeks and four days, which equal a correction of 11 hours 46 minutes. This added to the right ascension of 16 hours 25 minutes gives a total of 28 hours 11 minutes. Because the total is greater than the twenty-four hours you must deduct the twenty-four hours and the result is 4 hours 11 minutes (a.m.) Greenwich. To this you must make correction for your longitude.

This method is applicable in all latitudes and gives reasonable accuracy.

.time from the stars

Northern Hemisphere

In the Northern Hemisphere the stars appear to revolve anti-clockwise in the sky, and you must remember this when reading time from the stars at night. Imagine the Pole star (Polaris) is the centre of a twenty-four-hour clock dial, and the hours are numbered from Midnight 24 hours, anticlockwise with 6 hours at the left and horizontal with the Pole star, twelve o'clock immediately below the Pole star, and eighteen hours at the right, horizontal to the Pole star. The brightest stars, Alpha and Beta, in Ursa Major (opposite the handle of the Big Dipper) or plough are the hour hands.

It gives correct time only on one day in the year, March 7th, thereafter it gains 4 minutes a day, or two hours a month, so that if it reads fifteen hours on June 1st, it will be seven and a half hours fast and the correct time therefore will be 7 hours 30 minutes.

Southern Hemisphere

In the Southern Hemisphere the stars appear to revolve clockwise. The Southern Cross is the hour hand of a twenty-four-hour Sky Clock, and the centre of the dial is four and a half times the length of the Cross towards the foot along the longest axis of the Cross. This clock is correct on April 1st (April Fools' Day - just to fool you, but don't be fooled), and thereafter it gains at the rate of 4 minutes a day or two hours a month, so that if it reads 8.20 on September 1st it will be ten hours fast, and therefore the correct time will be 22 hours 20 minutes, or 20 minutes past ten at night.

.direction from the stars

In the Northern Hemisphere, direction from the stars is easy. Polaris, the Pole Star, is very nearly directly over the North Pole, and therefore wherever you see it in the sky is true North.

In the Southern Hemisphere there is no star over the South Pole and finding direction is a little more difficult.

One of the most popular methods is from the constellation CRUX, or the CROSS, better known as the Southern Cross. There are many stars which appear to make the shape of a cross in the sky, and therefore it is essential, if you live in the Southern Hemisphere, that you learn to identify the Southern Cross beyond any shadow of doubt.

Look along the Milky Way, which is unmistakable, and you will find a dark patch without a single star. This is commonly called the Coal Sack, and the Southern Cross lies right on the very edge of the Coal Sack.

To make identification more certain, the Southern Cross should show you five stars, the fifth less bright than the others, and nearly in line with the foot star, and one of the arms. Another certain identification is the two pointers, two stars of the first magnitude, lying always to the left-hand side of the Cross (when viewed as if the Cross was in a vertical position).

The longest axis of the Cross towards the foot points to the Celestial South Pole. That is, to a position over the earthly South Pole.

This, using the length of the Cross from head to foot, is almost exactly four and a half times the length of the Cross commencing from the foot.

You can measure this with fair accuracy by holding the hand at arm's length, and using the thumb and forefinger as a pair of calipers to measure the length of the Cross.

Another indicator of true South, suitable for moonless nights is the two Magellan Clouds, which form the base of an imaginary equal-sided triangle, the apex of which is over the South Pole. On bright nights, when these two clouds are not visible, the two very bright stars, Achenar and Canopus, also are the base of an equal-sided triangle with its apex over the South Pole.

.the sun compass

[Get you hands on a simple Sun Compass/Clock generator here.]

A Sun Compass is far quicker to read and very much more convenient than having to refer to a magnetic compass. The directions for working out a Sun Compass are suitable for either working out on a card, on the ground, or, if you prefer it, for drawing on some unimportant area of your map.

On a map, a Sun Compass has marked military value.

A Sun Compass worked out on the ground in a camp be comes a Sun Clock, accurate to a minute if set down correctly.

First draw a circle (if on the map on a place where important information will not be obliterated) or if on the ground the area must be clean and level and open to sunshine throughout the day.

The first stage of working out a Sun Compass.

The size of the circle does not matter, 6" or 7" [15 or 17.5 cm] on the map, 2" or 3" [5 or 7.5 cm] if for a card, 3' or 4' or even 6' [0.9 or 1.2 or even 1.8 m] if on the ground.

Work out carefully and accurately the true North line. It is vitally important to have this most accurate.

If your Sun Compass or Sun Clock is wrong, it is because you have not put this North line in accurately.

If on a map this accurate North-South line will be either shown on the grid, or by the NORTH arrow head. Make sure that it is TRUE North, not magnetic.

When you have this line drawn from North to South, through the centre of the circle, draw another also through the centre from East to West, and divide the outer circumference of the circle into twenty-four equal divisions. Each it of these divisions will be exactly fifteen degrees.

These fifteen-degree divisions can be either marked off, if on a card, with a protractor, or if on the ground by using the cord for the radius of the circle, which will divide the circle into sixty-degree divisions from the North-South points of intersection, and into thirty degree divisions from the East-West intersections.

These thirty-degree divisions are bisected, and as a result you have the necessary twenty-four divisions of fifteen degrees each.

Lightly connect these divisions with faint lines parallel to the North-South line.

Now consult your map if you do not know your approximate latitude (within an error of five degrees) and starting on the East-West line which is zero, come up for North, down for South, along the circle till you can roughly pinpoint your present latitude North or South of the Equator.

Mark off where this point comes to on the North-South line. You now have to draw an ellipse which will touch this point and also touch the East-West line where it intersects the circle. To do this put two pins (or pegs, if you are working on the ground) on the East-West line directly in line with the two latitude points on the circle. (By directly in line is meant parallel to the North-South line.) A thread or cord is tied to each of these pins or pegs, with its length embracing the pin or peg on the latitude on the North-South line.

A pencil (or back of a knife if working on the ground) is put inside this loop, which is removed from the pin on the North-South line.

This will draw a perfect ellipse. On this ellipse mark in the hours, starting with the 12 on the North-South line, and reading to 6 p.m. of the East side, and from 6 a.m. on the West. (This is because the sun in the East throws the shadow to the West and vice versa.)

These hours are permanent and can be marked in ink, or with pegs or stakes if on the ground. (Roman figures are most suitable.)

The half and quarter hour intervals can be estimated by you with reasonable accuracy, and also marked in.

Now you must put in a declination circle to find out where the shadow stick or gnomon should be placed for any day of the year.

Mark off the outer circle where the 23½ degree position is, and transfer to the North-South line. Using this as a radius, draw a circle from the centre of the big circle you drew first. Mark this off by the method given above and set your shadow stick on the North-South line opposite the appropriate date. This shadow stick should be vertical, and should be set up with a plumb-bob.

The shadow will fall across the elliptical line, and where it falls is Solar Time. This must be correct for the Equation of Time and Longitude Corrections.

Note: A sun compass-sun clock drawn on an 'ordnance' (military) map can be used to obtain time accurately by orienting the map with the recognisable ground features, and then with the gnomon on the correct position, and the correction for time and the longitude corrections made, it should be possible to obtain accurate standard time within a minute or so.