Help finding North Pole

[Tom Foolious]

Been wandering around trying to figure out where the "North Pole" is on this planet. Been trying to think about HOW I can find it without a compass. Trying to align the sun in different positions, heading to what I think is the top of the planet at the vertical split between dark and light...etc. etc.

Still haven't found teh true north pole. I'm sure I'm being an idiot and forgetting some easy navigational way of finding the north pole.

Any suggestions?

[casualsailor]

Point yourself at the sun at daybreak and turn left.

[ShadedMJ]

@Tom : Anything special about finding the North Pole, or just something to do?

Game-wise you won't find the North Pole. The developers would have to factor in dates, longitude, latitude, axial tilt, wrap-around maps, and a pile of other math they don't have time/inclination to put into the game.

[Comrade Tea]

#MostDetailedGame2K16

[VanGoghComplex]

Originally posted by shadedmj:

@Tom : Anything special about finding the North Pole, or just something to do?

Game-wise you won't find the North Pole. The developers would have to factor in dates, longitude, latitude, axial tilt, wrap-around maps, and a pile of other math they don't have time/inclination to put into the game.

Honestly none of that matters. What defines poles is axis, and what defines axis is rotation.

Of course... that doesn't help much either. But still. XD

I'd be curious to know if the planets spawn into the map with their "poles" (topographically) aligned with the rotation of the sun around the skybox.

[Comrade Tea]

@Van HA Beat ya to this one

[casualsailor]

Originally posted by VanGoghComplex:

Originally posted by shadedmj:

@Tom : Anything special about finding the North Pole, or just something to do?

Game-wise you won't find the North Pole. The developers would have to factor in dates, longitude, latitude, axial tilt, wrap-around maps, and a pile of other math they don't have time/inclination to put into the game.

Honestly none of that matters. What defines poles is axis, and what defines axis is rotation.

Of course... that doesn't help much either. But still. XD

I'd be curious to know if the planets spawn into the map with their "poles" (topographically) aligned with the rotation of the sun around the skybox.

You're right. But I guess one could set a group of waypoints and do the calculations to see if their "Earth" like planet bulges at the equator.

It shouldn't be that hard, after all, Eratosthenes accurately calculated the circumference of the Earth around 240 B.C. using a stick about 2 meters long.

[ShadedMJ]

Related question: I made a ship with hydrogen thrusters, went up to no gravity, moved around a bit, then dropped back down nearly on my base. Do planets rotate in-game?

[VanGoghComplex]

Originally posted by shadedmj:

Related question: I made a ship with hydrogen thrusters, went up to no gravity, moved around a bit, then dropped back down nearly on my base. Do planets rotate in-game?

No. They don't rotate, they don't move at all.

[akurathedragonblader]

If I remember correctly, no. The sun revolves around the entire system.

[Eskidead]

Originally posted by akurathedragonblader:

If I remember correctly, no. The sun revolves around the entire system.

Which is why finding the north pole isn't really possible.
Defining 'north' (or any of the other cardinal points) requires a magnetic field, which planets in SE don't have. Sure, you can always try to find the point where the sun doesn't rise or fall, but rotates in a completely straight line along the horizon. I guess that would technically be one of the poles.

[Orson]

I remember looking at this when planets first came out, and to me it appears the sun rotates off centre to the voxel cubes.
You would imagine that the square faces of each point on the planet would align with the sun but for some reason they don,t ,so even the geogrphical poles/Ice caps dont line up to the rotation of the sun, true planetary physics lol.

[agreeksailor]

It is a trick question. For one, no you do not need a magnetic field to define North, think Mars or Mercury. What you do need is for rotation which defines two points that never move...the poles...and North and South is defined...in terms of the Sol system...the one we live in...North and South is arbitrarily defined as the orientation of Earth within the system.

Now, since the planets neither orbit nor rotate that makes this task significantly harder, but there are still two correct answers. The first answer, since the sun orbits around the system of planets and not the other way around then the North pole can be arbitrarily assigned to any point on the surface and count as such because there is no North refference.

If you want to use the Sol system as a refference there is a way to do this. Treat the "sun" as if the planets were revolving around it. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. so, Build a column as near to the "equator" of the planet as possible. This will be the point where the shadow moves directly in line with the column and one point where there is no shadow at all. Mark East...where the sun rises...and west...where the sun sets from the column at the equator. You don't have to do this on the equator but it makes this part a little easier.

Now that you have establisher a firm East and West you know which direction North is. Now, fly in that direction in as straight of a line as you can. Once you reach a point where your shadow has significantly elongated build a new column on the planets surface. Again mark East and West. You are going to keep building these columns with an added step now. When you build your test column position a row of blocks from the column heading "North" Measure how far out from the column your shadow runs. Now you want the shadow that arcs from East and West to reach the same maximum length. Once that happens then you are "on" the North pole.

Why? Because of the way the planetary system is laid out. The Planets all lay on the same plane and the sun "orbits" that plane. Therefore you can assume the sun to always be directly above a point on the equator. Now because of that when you are on one of the poles on your planet the length of a shadow from that point should paint a shadow that never changes it's length from sunrise to sunset...which should never happen...because you are on the pole. So instead, the shadow should draw a perfect circle around the pole from the column as the "sun" rotates about the equator. Hopefully that makes sense. If not, do this thought experiment. Imagine a basketball with a nail pushed into the air inlet. Now, tie that nail to a string and suspend it so that the nail is pointing straight up. Bring a lamp such that the light is centered above the middle of the ball...its equator...and move the lamp around the surface of the basketball without moving closer or away from the ball. No matter how much you move the lamp, the length of the shadow can never change that is cast by the nail. It will be instead defined by the curve of the surface resulting in a maximum length...a straight line drawn from the horizon to the head of the nail.

I don't know about simple, but that is one way...probably one of the few relying on ingame ques...to determine "true" North and the North pole.

[Comrade Tea]

Originally posted by agreeksailor:

It is a trick question. For one, no you do not need a magnetic field to define North, think Mars or Mercury. What you do need is for rotation which defines two points that never move...the poles...and North and South is defined...in terms of the Sol system...the one we live in...North and South is arbitrarily defined as the orientation of Earth within the system.

Now, since the planets neither orbit nor rotate that makes this task significantly harder, but there are still two correct answers. The first answer, since the sun orbits around the system of planets and not the other way around then the North pole can be arbitrarily assigned to any point on the surface and count as such because there is no North refference.

If you want to use the Sol system as a refference there is a way to do this. Treat the "sun" as if the planets were revolving around it. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. so, Build a column as near to the "equator" of the planet as possible. This will be the point where the shadow moves directly in line with the column and one point where there is no shadow at all. Mark East...where the sun rises...and west...where the sun sets from the column at the equator. You don't have to do this on the equator but it makes this part a little easier.

Now that you have establisher a firm East and West you know which direction North is. Now, fly in that direction in as straight of a line as you can. Once you reach a point where your shadow has significantly elongated build a new column on the planets surface. Again mark East and West. You are going to keep building these columns with an added step now. When you build your test column position a row of blocks from the column heading "North" Measure how far out from the column your shadow runs. Now you want the shadow that arcs from East and West to reach the same maximum length. Once that happens then you are "on" the North pole.

Why? Because of the way the planetary system is laid out. The Planets all lay on the same plane and the sun "orbits" that plane. Therefore you can assume the sun to always be directly above a point on the equator. Now because of that when you are on one of the poles on your planet the length of a shadow from that point should paint a shadow that never changes it's length from sunrise to sunset...which should never happen...because you are on the pole. So instead, the shadow should draw a perfect circle around the pole from the column as the "sun" rotates about the equator. Hopefully that makes sense. If not, do this thought experiment. Imagine a basketball with a nail pushed into the air inlet. Now, tie that nail to a string and suspend it so that the nail is pointing straight up. Bring a lamp such that the light is centered above the middle of the ball...its equator...and move the lamp around the surface of the basketball without moving closer or away from the ball. No matter how much you move the lamp, the length of the shadow can never change that is cast by the nail. It will be instead defined by the curve of the surface resulting in a maximum length...a straight line drawn from the horizon to the head of the nail.

I don't know about simple, but that is one way...probably one of the few relying on ingame ques...to determine "true" North and the North pole.

You good sir, need to put a TL;DR on top :P JK or am i

[Tom Foolious]

Originally posted by Eskidead:

Originally posted by akurathedragonblader:

If I remember correctly, no. The sun revolves around the entire system.

Which is why finding the north pole isn't really possible.
Defining 'north' (or any of the other cardinal points) requires a magnetic field, which planets in SE don't have. Sure, you can always try to find the point where the sun doesn't rise or fall, but rotates in a completely straight line along the horizon. I guess that would technically be one of the poles.

Yes this exactly is what I'm trying to find. I would think the game AT LEAST has the sun in a fixed rotation, so technically there should be a "north pole", or even just a "pole" that has constant daytime.

[Tom Foolious]

Originally posted by Goat:

Originally posted by agreeksailor:

It is a trick question. For one, no you do not need a magnetic field to define North, think Mars or Mercury. What you do need is for rotation which defines two points that never move...the poles...and North and South is defined...in terms of the Sol system...the one we live in...North and South is arbitrarily defined as the orientation of Earth within the system.

Now, since the planets neither orbit nor rotate that makes this task significantly harder, but there are still two correct answers. The first answer, since the sun orbits around the system of planets and not the other way around then the North pole can be arbitrarily assigned to any point on the surface and count as such because there is no North refference.

If you want to use the Sol system as a refference there is a way to do this. Treat the "sun" as if the planets were revolving around it. The sun rises in the East and sets in the West. so, Build a column as near to the "equator" of the planet as possible. This will be the point where the shadow moves directly in line with the column and one point where there is no shadow at all. Mark East...where the sun rises...and west...where the sun sets from the column at the equator. You don't have to do this on the equator but it makes this part a little easier.

Now that you have establisher a firm East and West you know which direction North is. Now, fly in that direction in as straight of a line as you can. Once you reach a point where your shadow has significantly elongated build a new column on the planets surface. Again mark East and West. You are going to keep building these columns with an added step now. When you build your test column position a row of blocks from the column heading "North" Measure how far out from the column your shadow runs. Now you want the shadow that arcs from East and West to reach the same maximum length. Once that happens then you are "on" the North pole.

Why? Because of the way the planetary system is laid out. The Planets all lay on the same plane and the sun "orbits" that plane. Therefore you can assume the sun to always be directly above a point on the equator. Now because of that when you are on one of the poles on your planet the length of a shadow from that point should paint a shadow that never changes it's length from sunrise to sunset...which should never happen...because you are on the pole. So instead, the shadow should draw a perfect circle around the pole from the column as the "sun" rotates about the equator. Hopefully that makes sense. If not, do this thought experiment. Imagine a basketball with a nail pushed into the air inlet. Now, tie that nail to a string and suspend it so that the nail is pointing straight up. Bring a lamp such that the light is centered above the middle of the ball...its equator...and move the lamp around the surface of the basketball without moving closer or away from the ball. No matter how much you move the lamp, the length of the shadow can never change that is cast by the nail. It will be instead defined by the curve of the surface resulting in a maximum length...a straight line drawn from the horizon to the head of the nail.

I don't know about simple, but that is one way...probably one of the few relying on ingame ques...to determine "true" North and the North pole.

You good sir, need to put a TL;DR on top :P JK or am i

Yes not very simple and a bit time consuming, but it's definitely worth trying out. Thank you for this tremendous explanation. You sir, are a very good lad. I appreciate the time put into this :)

Thank you again!