Re: equation of time sundial

2013-02-03 Thread Ken Baldwin
Hi guys,

Thanks for your responses.

I'm not trying to read the EOT-adjusted time from the device, I want to
read the actual EOT value itself for that date. For example, on Aug 9th, at
any daylight hour, I'd like to be able to read, say, -5.5 min. Maybe I'm
misunderstanding, but do I get that from these analemmic gnomons or hour
lines?

I'm suggesting something like Peter's design, but with the hour lines
removed, and the date lines labelled with the EOT value (-15 min - 15 min).

I understand Simon's point that the altitude of the sun is ambiguous
between two dates, so perhaps it would have to be split into two plates
(like half-analemmas). Of course, this requires the user to know which 6
month period of the year they are in, which partially defeats the purpose
of not needing to know the date :-)

Ken


On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 2:14 PM, Peter Mayer peter.ma...@adelaide.edu.auwrote:

 Hi Ken,

 Here's another example of a dial which may interest you.  This is
 my adaptation of a brilliant dial coded by Steve Lelievre.  To fit the size
 limit on this list, I've had to squeeze the image greatly, but you should
 be able to grasp the principle of the dial: each month is a separate
 concentric circle.  Between month lines one must interpolate the date to
 read the civil time.


 best wishes,

 Peter

 On 4/02/2013 6:32 AM, Ken Baldwin wrote:

 Hello,

 I'm a new list member, and have a beginner question:

 Are there examples of sundials whose sole (or primary) purpose is to
 compute the Equation of Time for the current date?

 - I know that this information is often provided as a graph in the
 furniture, but why should I have to know the date and perform the
 look-up manually? Can't I use the position of the sun to do the
 computation for me?

 - I know that the EOT correction can be incorporated into the layout of
 (some) hour lines, but I'm more interested in having dials which show
 true solar time. I'd like a separate device dedicated to computing the
 EOT.

 - I know that I can construct an analemmic noon mark to show the EOT for
 that day, since it's simply the east-west component of the analemma, but
 I'd like a design that can be read at any daylight hour.

 It seems to me that it should be possible to build such a dial, since
 the EOT is a function of date, and date lines can be read from many
 sundials. In principle, I can just re-label the date lines with
 corresponding EOT values and interpolate.

 I hope that makes sense. But since I haven't seen anything like that in
 introductory sundial books, I must be missing something... Is it that
 the shadow length can't be read accurately enough to get a reasonably
 precise EOT estimate? Or is it just too hard to make a readable layout,
 given that solar altitude is ambiguous between two dates, and that the
 component of the EOT due to the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is out
 of phase with the equinoxes and solstices?

 Thanks in advance,
 Ken Baldwin
 Corvallis, OR USA



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Re: equation of time sundial

2013-02-03 Thread Ken Baldwin
Thanks, everyone.

I see now how an analemmic gnomon can be used to read the EOT, if the
equatorial band shows both mean and apparent time and you do the
subtraction in your head. I'm most interested, though, in something which
allows a direct reading of EOT...

Mike, your solution sounds very interesting, but I confess I don't really
understand it :-) I take it the motor is to keep the hole pointed toward
the sun. Presumably this could be done manually, as on a shepard's dial?
I'm unclear though on what's drawn inside. Is it a single curve of EOT as a
function of declination, or a family of curves?

Ken



On Sun, Feb 3, 2013 at 12:02 PM, Ken Baldwin kenneth.bald...@gmail.comwrote:

 Hello,

 I'm a new list member, and have a beginner question:

 Are there examples of sundials whose sole (or primary) purpose is to
 compute the Equation of Time for the current date?

 - I know that this information is often provided as a graph in the
 furniture, but why should I have to know the date and perform the look-up
 manually? Can't I use the position of the sun to do the computation for me?

 - I know that the EOT correction can be incorporated into the layout of
 (some) hour lines, but I'm more interested in having dials which show true
 solar time. I'd like a separate device dedicated to computing the EOT.

 - I know that I can construct an analemmic noon mark to show the EOT for
 that day, since it's simply the east-west component of the analemma, but
 I'd like a design that can be read at any daylight hour.

 It seems to me that it should be possible to build such a dial, since the
 EOT is a function of date, and date lines can be read from many sundials.
 In principle, I can just re-label the date lines with corresponding EOT
 values and interpolate.

 I hope that makes sense. But since I haven't seen anything like that in
 introductory sundial books, I must be missing something... Is it that the
 shadow length can't be read accurately enough to get a reasonably precise
 EOT estimate? Or is it just too hard to make a readable layout, given that
 solar altitude is ambiguous between two dates, and that the component of
 the EOT due to the eccentricity of the earth's orbit is out of phase with
 the equinoxes and solstices?

 Thanks in advance,
 Ken Baldwin
 Corvallis, OR USA


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