declination

[chubster1302]

Trying to use a compass to find true north. I have my declination info but no idea how to translate that to a compass ?

 

Latitude: 51° 7' 49" N Longitude: 0° 0' 48" E

Date Declination 2023-02-18 0° 44' E  ± 0° 23'  changing by  0° 12' E per year

[AstroKeith]

Magnetic declination, sometimes called magnetic variation, is the angle between magnetic north and true north. Declination is positive east of true north and negative when west. Magnetic declination changes over time and with location. As the compass points with local magnetic fields, declination value is needed to obtain true north

[chubster1302]

1 minute ago, AstroKeith said:

Magnetic declination, sometimes called magnetic variation, is the angle between magnetic north and true north. Declination is positive east of true north and negative when west. Magnetic declination changes over time and with location. As the compass points with local magnetic fields, declination value is needed to obtain true north

yup...but going from those figures up there how many degrees do i need to move my declination on the compass? 

[Skipper Billy]

'West is best - East is least'

So deduct the Easterly variation.

So when your compass points at 360/000º then true north is 359.56º

To be honest the variation at the moment is so small I wouldnt worry about it. It is within the +/- accuracy of your compass.

[AstroKeith]

So your compass will be pointing approximately 44 arc minutes East of True North. (Not a lot!)

The +/- 23 arc minutes  is local variations which arent mapped or measured.