Telling Time Without a Clock

Telling time without a clock may seem like an impossible task, but with a little bit of practice, you can use the sun, moon, and stars to gauge the approximate time of day (or night).

During the day, the sun appears to travel across the sky. If you are in the northern hemisphere, face the south. As you look south, the sun rises in the east (from your left) and sets in the west (to your right). If the sun is halfway between your left and right, it is noon. If it is before noon, you can approximate how far the sun is between the east and the center. If it is after noon, look for the position of the sun between the center and the right. Knowing the time of sunrise and sunset will help you to be more accurate.

At night, you can also tell time by using the stars. To do this, we use the North Star. Locate the two stars that are at the edge of the Big Dipper, farthest away from the end of the handle. Those two stars line up with the North Star. That line also acts as the hour hand on a 24-hour clock, where midnight (0) is straight up and noon (12) is straight down. Just to the left of 0 is sunset to midnight, and to the right is midnight to sunrise. If it is winter, deduct one hour for each month before March 7 to adjust. If it is after March 7, add one hour per month. The reason for this is that March 7 is the date on which the star clock points to exactly midnight.

It gets a little more complex during certain times of the year, especially if daylight saving time must be considered. Although using constellations and planets to tell time is an interesting and potentially useful skill, next time you need to know the time, it may be easier to just look at your watch!