Making a Moon Compass

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Mitch, Mitchell, Alone, History, Channel, Survival, Nativesurvival.

Tags: navigation,compass,moon,lunar,shadow,stick,method,solar,primitive,night,nav,sun,outdoor,hunting,fishing,outside,hobbies,outdoor recreation,shooting sports,shooting tips,hunting tips

Video Transcription

it's a mission a to survival the moon is huge

it's 9 p.m. let's do some navigation alright so right there is a live shot humble with the camera a little bit of the moon now the moon is really large tonight so what that's doing is it's casting a shadow even though it's 9 p.m. at night ok so obviously that has great benefits walking through the woods for a night navigation but it also allows us to make a lunar compass the same way to make a solar compass now just like the Sun the moon is moving across the sky so it's throwing and throwing a shadow that's moving ok I just like the Sun now it's throwing a very pure shadow tonight and it's actually moving pretty quick you know most people don't realize how quick our Sun and move I'm sorry our Sun and Moon actually move now you guys should see in the frame not moving my video frame at all the moon is slowly creeping across my frame I mean it's it's gonna be out of frame pretty soon so what that's doing is it's literally moving the shadow that quickly so what you want to do is you just want to put a stick in the ground it's gonna cast a shadow you Mark that at the end of that shadow of a stick and then you want to wait like 15-20 minutes and the shadow will moved as you can see the moon is moving right now just place another stick at the end of the new location and then do that a few times maybe 3 or 4 times and most that line right there is the east-west line so let's get to it alright so unfortunately the moonlight isn't picking up in my camera even my my digital camera so I'm gonna go through the through the movements here unfortunately you guys can't see the shadow created by the moon but it's essentially the same process as making a solar compass

put a stick in the ground as plum as you can it's going to create a shadow just like my headlamp is creating a shadow back here then I would take a little stick or I'm going to take a little stick and put it at the tip of that shadow to mark that now as the Moon moves the shadow moves just like that so then I would put a second stick where that one is then it's going to keep moving across the sky I'll put a third one

eventually it's going to create a line they'll be my east-west line okay so I'm gonna go ahead and track the moon and again I apologize that my camera isn't picking up the moonlight I was hoping it would but the moon is incredibly bright tonight and it's creating a really sharp pure shadow so I wanted to go ahead and make a lunar compass for you guys tonight

so stay with me alright so that's what we got again the shadow stick is right here so the light off the moon shot the first shadow right here and I put the stick at the end of the shadow and the shadow can be here came to here I waited about maybe 20 20 minutes 25 minutes for this first one it's about an inch and waited about 20 minutes so five minutes shorter on this one it's a little bit shorter there and it's probably well 3/4 of an inch all right so now all we're gonna do is follow that line it's on a stick there I'm gonna put a stick perpendicular to that just like that okay so if the shadow started here that means that the side is East so it's just like the Sun because it started here earlier in the night and as it moved across heading towards the horizon on over here the shadow moved over here see how that works so first it's shot here and as it moved the shadow goes this way eventually the shadow will be over here so it's gonna move right across as the Moon moves to the moon's here here moves across this way so the light does the opposite okay the shadow I mean go does the opposite right here miss swats alright so I'm holding my headlamp here I'm gonna see if I can simulate what the moon did it's basically the first shadow looked like this and then all that happens is that as the moon moved across the sky a shadow just move like that so the first one I took the shadow was this long look just like that and it's a moon moved across the sky I took the second one yeah I took the third one that's all there is to it it was the first one second that's the third okay so this should be West this should be East it should be north/south okay so north south east west so let's go get a compass and we'll see if it matches okay so haven't moved anything it's my compass as I said before there should be north as you can see sure is okay so here is the lunar shadow stick method all set up and just as a quick rundown again and I do apologize that the the shadow doesn't show up for the for the camera from you know from the moon if I shut my headlamp off it will be completely dark which is kind of mind-boggling cuz I don't even need my headlamp to walk around but again this is the shadow stick the moon shoots light off here it came here first right the tip I put a stick as it moved about 20-25 minutes I did it again about 20 minutes I did it again I just put a stick along that that's my east-west line and then I put a stick perpendicular to it very simple they can be done with this with the Sun which will be solar compass or with the moon a lunar compass this is what the shadows stick method alright this is Ben Mitch you need a survival thanks for joining me tonight for this lunar compass appreciate you views your karma see support see in the next one take care

About the Author

NativeSurvival

NativeSurvival

Mitch is a Wilderness Living Skills Instructor, he has been featured on The History Channel's program "ALONE" and written articles for Outdoor Magazines; he owns and operates The Native Survival School which provides woodland living and survival classes, as well as offering quality outdoor gear he's designed. Defintely, he is a master at bushcraft's techniques.

You can find all his videos on his YouTube channel.

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