Hello Dialists : I've got a question that's always bugged me. As I'm more of an artist than mathematician, I doubt that my answer is the correct one and I'm sure many of you geniuses out there know the answer.
I'm sure many of you have seen time lapse photography of the little circle that Polaris circumscribes around the North Celestial Pole in the northern night sky. This is because it is about 1/2 a degree away from the N.C.P. If you orient your sundial north by Polaris when it is on the meridian, then there will be no time error, because the dial will be pointed due north. Right? But if you orient it when it is due east or west of the meridian, the sundial will be turned the maximum distance from true north (1/2 degree) and the maximum time error will result. How large is this error in seconds of time? Here's how I tried to solve it: If the sun moves 15 deg./hr. then it moves 15 deg./ 60 min.= 1 deg./.25min.=1 deg/15 sec.=.5 deg./7.5 sec. Is this the answer: 7.5 seconds? I've got a feeling that I've oversimplified the problem. I bet the answer turns out to be some bellcurve with an error which changes throughout the day. It's probably something only T.J.Lauroesch and J.R.Edinger,Jr. can solve! John Carmichael
