You need to know the variation (also referred to as declination) for your location. Once you have that, you add East variation (or plus) to your magnetic compass reading, and subtract West variation (or minus) from your magnetic compass reading to get true compass reading. To find North, simply line your magnetic compass up so that the needle is on North and then either add or subtract your variation to get the true North reading. See the links below to find the variation for your position.
To find the variation from true north, you can use a magnetic compass to determine the magnetic north and then calculate the angle between the magnetic north and the true north. This angle is known as the magnetic declination or variation. Many maps and GPS devices provide information about the current magnetic declination in a specific location.
The declination diagram
The declination diagram
One method to determine true north without a compass at night is by using the stars. You can locate the North Star (Polaris) which is positioned close to true north. Draw an imaginary line from the North Star to the ground to find where true north lies.
True. Declination is the angular difference between true north (the direction of the North Pole) and magnetic north (the direction a compass points towards).
To find the variation from true north, you can use a magnetic compass to determine the magnetic north and then calculate the angle between the magnetic north and the true north. This angle is known as the magnetic declination or variation. Many maps and GPS devices provide information about the current magnetic declination in a specific location.
It means turning it around so that it is aligned with the real world. You'd use a compass for this to find magnetic north, then find true north and then align the map north to that
angle of magnetic declination
nothing special except with a compass you could find your way to the true north pole
The declination diagram
The declination diagram
The declination diagram
The declination diagram
You don't need to worry about declination to find true north; just observe the north star, and that's it. Perhaps you're starting with a magnetic compass and want to find true north? The correction factor is "magnetic variation", or "magvar", and this is printed on your charts.
you can find the north by using stars.POLARIS
Normally you can use the position of the Sun, but one must be able to see it, alternatively you can use the natural environment around you and observe the tree sap which indicates the direction. The sun is normally pointing at you from the South, but you should consider the time of day and year. At night simply find Polaris. More accurate than the vast majority of methods. First off a compass isn't very good to use in finding true north as a compass doesn't point true north, it points to the magnetic north. And even if you have the compass correction for true north, magnetic north drifts a considerable amount and corrections become out-of-date quite quickly. To be really, really accurate at the placement of true north you would have to observe polaris over as much of a night as you can see the star in. The path of the star over the night sky will make a portion of a circle. If you can fix the center of that circle then you have true north to as high a degree as you can eliminate error.
One method to determine true north without a compass at night is by using the stars. You can locate the North Star (Polaris) which is positioned close to true north. Draw an imaginary line from the North Star to the ground to find where true north lies.