North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions . It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west . North is a noun , adjective , or adverb indicating direction or geography .
19-736: The Foyle, Carlingford and Irish Lights Commission ( FCILC ) is a commission supervised by the North/South Ministerial Council with responsibility for two agencies which span the Irish border , namely the Loughs Agency and the Lights Agency . The FCIC is one of the implementation bodies (or "cross-border bodies") established in 1999 under the 1998 British–Irish Agreement during the Northern Ireland peace process . The Lights Agency
38-454: A right angle from the prime direction, that are closest to the rising and setting, respectively, of the sun (or moon). Being the "default" direction on the compass, north is referred to frequently in Western popular culture. Some examples include: True north True north (also called geodetic north or geographic north ) is the direction along Earth 's surface towards the place where
57-485: Is a navigational term referring to the direction northwards along the grid lines of a map projection . The visible rotation of the night sky around the visible celestial pole provides a vivid metaphor of that direction corresponding to "up". Thus the choice of the north as corresponding to "up" in the northern hemisphere, or of south in that role in the southern, is, before worldwide communication, anything but an arbitrary one - at least for night-time astronomers. (Note:
76-545: Is intended to succeed the Commissioners of Irish Lights in managing lighthouses around the coast of Ireland; however, this process has been stalled by administrative and legal complications. The Loughs Agency ( Irish : Gníomhaireacht na Lochanna ; Ulster Scots : Factrie fur Loughs ) manages fisheries in Carlingford Lough and Lough Foyle — the sea loughs at the southeastern and northwestern ends respectively of
95-551: The Arctic Circle the Sun never shines from the north. North is sometimes abbreviated as N . By convention , the top or upward-facing side of a map is north. To go north using a compass for navigation , set a bearing or azimuth of 0° or 360°. Traveling directly north traces a meridian line upwards. North is specifically the direction that, in Western culture , is considered
114-407: The fundamental direction: Magnetic north is of interest because it is the direction indicated as north on a properly functioning (but uncorrected) magnetic compass . The difference between it and true north is called the magnetic declination (or simply the declination where the context is clear). For many purposes and physical circumstances, the error in direction that results from ignoring
133-528: The magnetic north and Magnetic North Pole , which is a less steady location close to the True North Pole determined by a compass and the magnetic field of the Earth . Due to fundamental limitations in map projection , true north also differs from the grid north which is marked by the direction of the grid lines on a typical printed map. However, the longitude lines on a globe lead to the true poles, because
152-488: The distinction is tolerable; in others a mental or instrument compensation, based on assumed knowledge of the applicable declination, can solve all the problems. But simple generalizations on the subject should be treated as unsound, and as likely to reflect popular misconceptions about terrestrial magnetism . Maps intended for usage in orienteering by compass will clearly indicate the local declination for easy correction to true north. Maps may also indicate grid north , which
171-506: The imaginary rotational axis of the Earth intersects the surface of the Earth. That place is called the True North Pole . True south is the direction opposite to the true north. North per se is one of the cardinal directions , a system of naming orientations on the Earth. There are multiple ways of determining the North in different contexts. It is important to make a distinction between
190-422: The intersection, tracing a tiny circle in the sky each sidereal day . Due to the axial precession of Earth, true north rotates in an arc with respect to the stars that takes approximately 25,000 years to complete. Around 2101–2103, Polaris will make its closest approach to the celestial north pole (extrapolated from recent Earth precession ). The visible star nearest the north celestial pole 5,000 years ago
209-637: The land border between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland — as well as the basin of the River Foyle , which forms part of the border and flows into Lough Foyle. The Loughs Agency is the successor of the Foyle Fisheries Commission , established in 1952 by the Government of Ireland and the Government of Northern Ireland to bypass their dispute over which had sovereignty over Lough Foyle and
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#1732852736764228-559: The north of the Muslim Lezgian homeland there are areas formerly inhabited by non-Muslim Caucasian and Turkic peoples. In many languages of Mesoamerica , north also means "up". In Romanian the old word for north is mĭazănoapte , from Latin mediam noctem meaning midnight and in Hungarian is észak , which is derived from éjszaka ("night"), since between the Tropic of Cancer and
247-590: The river channel. North The word north is related to the Old High German nord , both descending from the Proto-Indo-European unit * ner- , meaning "left; below" as north is to left when facing the rising sun. Similarly, the other cardinal directions are also related to the sun's position. The Latin word borealis comes from the Greek boreas "north wind, north", which, according to Ovid ,
266-430: The southern hemisphere lacks a prominent visible analog to the northern Pole Star .) On the contrary, Chinese and Islamic cultures considered south as the proper "top" end for maps . In the cultures of Polynesia , where navigation played an important role, winds - prevailing local or ancestral - can define cardinal points . In Western culture : North is quite often associated with colder climates because most of
285-579: The sun rises" and "where it sets". Except on the Equator, however, these definitions, taken together, would imply that Reasonably accurate folk astronomy, such as is usually attributed to Stone Age peoples or later Celts , would arrive at east and west by noting the directions of rising and setting (preferably more than once each) and choosing as prime direction one of the two mutually opposite directions that lie halfway between those two. The true folk-astronomical definitions of east and west are "the directions,
304-406: The three-dimensional representation avoids those limitations. The celestial pole is the location on the imaginary celestial sphere where an imaginary extension of the rotational axis of the Earth intersects the celestial sphere. Within a margin of error of 1°, the true north direction can be approximated by the position of the pole star Polaris which would currently appear to be very close to
323-717: The world's populated land at high latitudes is located in the Northern Hemisphere . The Arctic Circle passes through the Arctic Ocean , Norway , Sweden , Finland , Russia , the United States ( Alaska ), Canada ( Yukon , Northwest Territories and Nunavut ), Denmark ( Greenland ) and Iceland . While the choice of north over south as prime direction reflects quite arbitrary historical factors, east and west are not nearly as natural alternatives as first glance might suggest. Their folk definitions are, respectively, "where
342-748: Was Thuban . On maps published by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and the United States Armed Forces , true north is marked with a line terminating in a five-pointed star. The east and west edges of the USGS topographic quadrangle maps of the United States are meridians of longitude , thus indicating true north (so they are not exactly parallel). Maps issued by the United Kingdom Ordnance Survey contain
361-510: Was personified as the wind-god Boreas , the father of Calais and Zetes . Septentrionalis is from septentriones , "the seven plow oxen", a name of Ursa Major . The Greek ἀρκτικός ( arktikós ) is named for the same constellation, and is the source of the English word Arctic . Other languages have other derivations. For example, in Lezgian , kefer can mean both "disbelief" and "north", since to
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