Hi Bill: you wrote:
>As another minor aside, although this technique for finding north is commonly >known among dialists, does anyone know a nice technique for aligning the dial >for the proper latitude. That is, adjusting the north/south tilt of the dial >until the stile is in perfect alignment with the celestial pole? I don't >mean just elevating the stile to an angle measured to be equal to your >latitude, but actually taking time measurements off of the dial, and then >determining how to fine tune the adjustment to get it exactly right. I don't think any time measurement method for adjusting the north/south tilt will work at apparent noon. At high noon (apparent noon), tilting a sundial in the north/south direction will not affect the time on the dial because the sun is on the meridian. The style's shadow will indicate 12 noon regardless of the north/south tilt. John Carmichael
