Arthur Carlson wrote: > > ... A photo of a dial similar to the one made for Patrick Moore can > > be seen on the internet at > > http://www.lindisun.demon.co.uk/smallest.htm > > I have a question for Tony Moss about the dial pictured. Unless there > is another scale on the back we can't see or the dial plate can be > turned over, this dial can only be used in summer. That's OK, but > then why do you include the Equation of Time for the whole year? > > --Art Carlson
Congratulations to Tim on being given this commission. I am sure Patrick Moore will treasure it. Without having seen the dial, I cannot be sure of the answer to Art's question, but note that use in the winter requires that the lower face be read. It must be marked as the mirror image of the visible face. Turning the dial plate over allows its use in the southern hemisphere. Whereever used, the gnomon visible in http://www.lindisun.demon.co.uk/smallest.htm must point to the north celestial pole, the upper surface functions in the summer and the lower surface in the winter. When the correspondence on the Schmoyer dial was going on, everyone seemed to assume that the numerals needed to be drawn for one hemisphere or the other, which isn't strictly true, although with a ring design the numerals should perhaps be drawn both ways up so as to be more easily read. Chris Lusby Taylor 51.3N 1.4W
