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What’s the Difference Between True North and Magnetic North?

True north is a fixed point on the globe. Magnetic north is quite different. Magnetic north is the direction that a compass needle points to as it aligns with the earth’s magnetic field. What is interesting is that the magnetic north pole shifts and changes over time in response to changes in the earth’s magnetic core.

What’s the Difference Between True North and Magnetic North?

True north is the direction towards the North Pole, while magnetic north is the direction towards the magnetic north pole.

The difference between the two is that the earth‘s magnetic field is constantly shifting, so magnetic north changes over time while true north does not.

This means that a compass will point to different directions at different times, depending on where you are on the planet.

The magnetic north pole is where the earth‘s magnetic field points downwards into the planet. The North Pole is the point on the earth‘s surface that is farthest from the planet‘s center.

The two are not the same, though they are close together. The difference is about 0.7 degrees, or about 400 kilometers.

The reason that the magnetic north pole moves is because the earth‘s magnetic field is generated by the planet‘s molten iron core. The core is constantly in motion, and as it moves, so does the magnetic north pole.

The pole is currently moving towards Siberia at a rate of about 50 kilometers per year. This shifting of the magnetic north pole can cause problems for navigational systems that rely on magnetic north, such as compasses and GPS.

The good news is that, because the earth‘s magnetic field is fairly stable overall, these systems can be calibrated to

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