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gyrocompass
A continuously-driven gyroscope which acts as a compass. It is unaffected by magnetic variations and is used for steering large ships. As the Earth rotates the gyroscope experiences a torque if it is out of the meridian. The resulting tilting is sensed by a gravity sensing system which itself applies a torque to the gyroscope which returns it to the north-south meridian. The sensitivity of such systems decreases with latitude away from the equator.
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