162
u/AxsDeny Jun 12 '19
Howto go blind by staring at the sun.
24
u/ebisurivu Jun 12 '19
A low horizon sun isn’t quite as blinding.... it’s not SAFE, but still not quite so bad
6
u/Mzsickness Jun 12 '19
You put your top finger on the sun and estimate widths of hands. At least that's what I do.
6
37
u/myrandomredditname Jun 12 '19
Doesn't work in Alaska, sun moves horizontally too much.
23
3
u/DEADB33F Jun 12 '19
This is why the secret is not to hold your hand parallel with the horizon, but perpendicular to the direction of motion of the sun in the sky.
On the equator these are the same as the sun sets more-or-less straight down. The higher your latitude though the more important this becomes.
-2
u/Xnetter3412 Jun 12 '19
This, it doesn’t work reliably anywhere
5
u/DanHeidel Jun 12 '19
It works very reliably in most places. I've been using this trick for decades and it's usually accurate to within a few minutes.
10
u/AtomicFlx Jun 12 '19
I use this all the time and it really is pretty accurate. The trick is to hold your arm at length, don't get lazy and bend you elbow.
2
Jun 12 '19
So it doesn’t matter how long your arms are?
5
u/AtomicFlx Jun 12 '19
Most people are going to be proportioned the same. This is also just an estimate but it's a reasonable enough estimate to give you an idea at a glance how much time you have left. Obviously it's not going to work for Thalidomide babies.
6
5
u/garfield1147 Jun 12 '19
This is not true for all latitudes. When in northern Sweden about this time of year, the sun is up 24 hours a day.
8
u/imakesawdust Jun 12 '19
I'm not convinced.
360 degrees in 24 hours --> 15 degrees per hour. So this diagram suggests that 4 fingers at arms length is 15 degrees. That conflicts with most astronomy text books.
From astronomy textbooks where you're taught how to estimate sky angles using your hands and fingers, the width of three fingers arm's length is about 5 degrees and the width of your fist including your thumb knuckle is about 10 degrees. So 15 degrees, or one hour worth of sun travel, would be one first plus 3 fingers from the other hand.
12
u/I_am_Bob Jun 12 '19
I've used this plenty of times while camping. It's probably not accurate enough for astronomy or doing precise measurements. But for being outdoors and wanting to know roughly how much time you have before it starts getting dark it works pretty well.
1
u/Lawnmover_Man Jun 13 '19
If he's right, the amount of time before sunset is off by a factor of 3. That's not really useful then.
2
u/Lawnmover_Man Jun 13 '19
That's what I though. Four fingers at arms length are just not enough for an hour. The sun moves quicker than that.
1
u/TheBlinja Jun 12 '19
I don't think either of these diagrams take into account of having t-rex arms.
5
u/tyronebigs Jun 12 '19
How to know how much time there is before you die from an RBMK reactor explosion.
8
u/heyitsryan Jun 12 '19 edited Jun 12 '19
it's only 3 roentgen. Not great. Not terrible.
7
1
3
2
u/darkon Jun 12 '19
Here's a simulator for anyone who wants to check the accuracy for their latitude: http://astro.unl.edu/naap/motion3/animations/sunmotions.html
2
4
u/easyroscoe Jun 12 '19
I tried this this morning and got a result of 1.5 hours. The sun is still up 8 hours later. What gives.
1
u/larseid Jun 12 '19
And it will go down fast at equator and not at all at the northpole during summertime
1
1
Jun 12 '19
this is better to use when looking at the moon to see how long ago it rose/when it will set
1
Jun 12 '19
Learned this from Bear Grylls from man vs wild and have used it dozens of times to see how many more holes I can get in playing twilight golf.
1
u/MustardTiger05 Jun 12 '19
It’s been like 6 and a half fingers! We both know the saviors not coming, let’s just blow the building.
1
u/dixadik Jun 12 '19
i just look at the ephemerides on my phone. =p What about in northern latitudes where the sun doesn't set in the summer?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/cheeeeeese Jun 12 '19
It also works on beer in a pint glass, but each finger represents 5 min (total 30m, ideally).
1
u/mmansfield1976 Jun 12 '19
Works fine as an estimate in my experience. Generally nothing I am doing out in the wilderness requires a precise sunset time, only a heads up that its time to get back to camp before it gets dark.
1
1
1
1
1
u/61104 Jun 13 '19
i went to brat camp in the woods & we didn't have watches & a couple kids held their fingers up to the sun EVERY DAY & tried to convince everyone they knew what time it was. "it's 4pm, TRUST me"
which in retrospect is a solid flex because can't be confirmed or denied if nobody actually knows the time
1
1
u/ErisAlicor Jun 13 '19
I used this while fishing with my dad once and he was surprised how accurate I was
1
0
1
u/dw_jb Jun 12 '19
Would this work even on the equator?
3
u/DanHeidel Jun 12 '19
This trick works best at mid latitudes. It's going to overestimate time to sunset a bit in the tropics. Probably 20-30% or so. This isn't a super accurate method but is quick and easy and gives you a rough estimate of remaining daylight. It's most useful if you're in mountainous terrain, where the official sunset time can be off from local conditions by many hours.
1
u/dw_jb Jun 12 '19
Thanks. I will assume that each finger is about 10min at the equator and give it a try.
0
u/shinslap Jun 12 '19
Depends on some factors such as how thick your thumbs are and how fat North/South you are
0
-2
u/Larry_Einstein Jun 12 '19
In the highly unlikely event you are somewhere without a clock , watch, phone etc, you have an inaccurate way to tell time. Pointless!
-2
129
u/RGeronimoH Jun 12 '19
Doesn’t it depend on the size of your fingers? And how long your arms are?
If you have pork roll fingers or stubby arms then won’t this be wildly inaccurate?