Why does the sun deviate from its position? Can I still judge things based on the sun?

The original poster’s observation is accurate.

Primary school students can blurt out: The sun rises in the east and sets in the west. But even after going to college, I'm afraid many people still have this understanding. This year's Anhui College Entrance Examination question even made a joke. I'm afraid the teacher who created the question didn't realize the difference.

This question may be a bit abstract when expressed in words. If you find a picture on the Internet, it should be clear at a glance.

The direction in which the sun rises and sets is determined by the latitude of the observation point and the sun’s declination (latitude in the sky). For the same observation point, the higher the latitude of the sun, the farther north it rises and sets, and vice versa. Today is the first day of November. In the past few months, the sun has moved from near the summer solstice to the east of the autumnal equinox, and its declination has moved from 20° to about -15°. Observed at the latitude of Shaoxing, the rising and setting positions can deviate by about 35°. It is not surprising to see such a phenomenon.

Use the sun to determine the direction. If it rises in the east and sets in the west, you can only make a qualitative judgment if it is south at noon. I can’t say that I know much about astronomy, but I have watched the stars for at least seven years. Based on my experience, in an unfamiliar city, it is no problem to determine the north, south, east, west, but if you want to adjust the polar axis of the telescope, this error is unacceptable.