Hi, Frank! You're right, I noticed no-one mentioned the sundial possibilities. The biggest problem is that the Moon rotates so slowly. You will have approximately equal days and nights of 14+ Earth days each! The equation of time becomes extremely more complicated as well, as the Earth-Moon system advances almost 1/12 of a year, for each lunar day-night cycle. Telling time by an "Earthdial", like our attempts at a Moondial, would not be possible, as the Earth hangs, essentially unmoving, at the same location in the lunar sky, all the time. Perhaps the best way would be analogous to our reading the date by moon phases: Look at Earth, and estimate where the terminator is; that would indicate the time zone where it is either 0600 or 1800, local solar time...
Dave 37.3 N 121.9 W On Wed, 18 Apr 2001, Frank Evans wrote: > Greetings fellow dialists, > Thanks Richard Mallett and all for clarifications regarding the moon > landings and the strange case of the flag that fluttered. I raise my > right hand and declare that I have always believed that (brave) men > landed on the moon in 1969. Honest! However, nobody really enlightened > me about the possibility of a sundial on the moon. I am poised > breathlessly for replies. > > By the way, I am told by a newsgroup correspondent that my home > position, see below, is in the sea. Hardly surprising, seeing my email > address. In fact it is shorthand for the town of North Shields, England, > which is actually a mile inland. But there is zooplankton in the estuary > there. So that's OK. > Frank, 55N 1 W (actually 55 01'N 1 27'W) > -- > Frank Evans >
