[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences – PNAS] SkyPole: How to find the latitude and the true North in the blue sky during daytime

SkyPole: How to find the latitude and the true North in the blue sky during daytime.

SkyPole is a method for locating True North and locating the observer’s latitude on the Earth using the polarization patterns of daylight. Humans have developed multiple forms of navigation to locate True North, but these methods encounter weaknesses that limit their usefulness. Animals, on the other hand, such as birds and insects, developed navigation methods based on sparse magnetic and visual cues. Thomas Kronland-Martinet and colleagues present a bio-inspired method, called SkyPole, for using the polarization of daytime light as a cue for determining the North Celestial Pole and thus the observer’s latitude on the Earth.