There has been a lot of topics posted here on ATS about possible shifting of the earths magnetic poles. I was on the skeptical side for a while on that subject. I mean, yeah, I know its happened before and will likely happen again. But I didn't think in my lifetime.

That said.......

I was digging through some old boxes of junk this morning. And I came across my old compass. One of those good ones that allow you to do line-of-sight measurements and all. I opened it up, and noticed something really odd. It was showing magnetic north towards what would be dead-east from where I was standing. At first, I thought maybe it was broke or maybe something in my home was causing the faulty readings. So, I tried it far away from my home, same results. Later in the day, I told a good friend of mine who lives 2 states south of me and he checked his compass. His was showing magnetic north in the east too!

Is it possible that the quake in Japan altered the poles? The quake DID mess up earths axis slightly. Or is something else going on here? Two good compasses over 600 miles apart, acting the same way, is very suspicious to me.

Can anyone locate any information that might help solve this strange phenomenon?

I recently bought two expensive compasses and was pisse at first. They did the same as your saying..I just kind of brushed it off kinda weird.

How many more of you have compasses? This should be interesting.

you probably got everybody trying out their compasses including me.
Well I checked mine and its working fine.

Hm...my military compass, which has been set-up in my bedroom now for 2 months, hasn't moved at all. North is still north here.
Also, the 10-cm tilt of the Earth caused by the earthquake is negligible. It's not anywhere near what would be required to account for north being easterly.

Yeah, this whole thing has had me puzzled as well. I honestly think something strange is happening. I don't believe its the moon though. It has to be something closer to the earths surface to do this. Thats my thoughts anyway.

All of you who have compasses, please note your readings here if you would. Mine was off by 46 degrees. My friends was off by 37 degrees.

Come to think of it, one day I was helping my son with his boy scout compass and it kept reading that what we knew was north was more to the east. We thought the compass was messed up. Strange!

I bought two compasses yesterday at walmart, different kinds with a slight difference in price. One was just a cheap one for the kids, the other one a slightly better one for me They both gave me the exact same reading today and yesterday in walmart. They point gave me magnetic north more to the east (directly between north and east), but not directly east. I just figured it was part of the pole shifting.

Originally posted by Komaratzi11
Come to think of it, one day I was helping my son with his boy scout compass and it kept reading that what we knew was north was more to the east. We thought the compass was messed up. Strange!

I'm willing to bet that the compass works just fine.

Can anyone locate a site somewhere that might show graphs of earths magnetic fields...one with a recent timeline would be helpful. I am doing my best to find such a graph.

Huh?
I have had one of my compasses in same permanent spot for two years now,.
and it looks like it has never moooved

I am in California and my compass is reading normal.

i tried all 3 compasses that i have. I have 1 expensive one and 2 cheaper ones..All have north where east is also. Whats up with this?