For those of you intending to be at the NASS conference in Montreal (Sept. 14-16): Note that the cost of registration increases as of August 1. If you have not yet registered, you can save yourself some money by doing it now! Send in your registration and check today.
Scheduled speakers: Roger Bailey The History and Use of Armillary Spheres "What is an armillary sphere? A model of the universe? An astronomical instrument? A tool for navigation? A computer? A sundial? A symbol of science and technology, knowledge and power? A device for casting horoscopes? How was the armillary sphere used by astronomers from Eratosthenes, Hipparchus and Ptolemy to Copernicus, Tycho, and Kepler to measure, calculate and predict the positions of the sun, moon stars and planets? Was it used by the Magi to understand the Star of Bethlehem? How is it used in astronomy, celestial navigation and the design of sundials? What is the connection with Prince Henry the Navigator, the Portuguese voyages of discovery and Manueline architecture? Why does it appear so frequently in paintings, sculpture and architecture? Why is the typical modern armillary sphere a useless degraded corruption of the original instrument? This presentation will answer these questions by tracing the history of the armillary sphere from its origin by the ancient Greek and Babylonian astronomers to its use through history as outlined above. You will discover how to use the armillary sphere to determine not only where on earth you are, the current date and time of day but when and where the sun sets. André Bouchard La Commission des Cadrans solaires du Québec A presentation on the ongoing work of the Québec Sundial Society. For the last 8 years, the CCSQ has been alive and well. We will explore its publications, its registry of sundials, its bulletin (LE GNOMONISTE), its web site, its implications in the development of gnomonics in Québec, and its links with the dialists of the world. André Bouchard The fine collection of sundials at the Stewart Museum of Montréal The Stewart Museum tells the history of the discovery, exploration and development of New France, Québec and Canada, and their close relations with the civilizations of Western Europe, which gave their births on the continent. The Museum put together different collections representative of the 16th, 17th 18th and 19th centuries in the history of North America, as well as all types of instruments in the development of European civilizations following the discovery of America. Among them, there is a small, but very rich, collection of ancient sundials. My purpose is to discuss the relative importance of that collection for any dialist, but especially for the members of the Québec Sundial Society (La Commission des Cadrans solaires du Québec). They must realize that the Stewart Museum has the most important collection of sundials among the museums of Québec. Following the development of sundials in European civilizations, the Museum naturally collected scientific and technological objects that related to that development. For the dialists of North America, or the simple lovers of sundials, this collection of sundials of the Stewart Museum of Montréal illustrates, with a rare taste, the history of gnomonics, the art of making the sundials. It represents a unique expression of the importance of France and the French civilization of the 16th and the 17th centuries in this part of the continent, in New France and along the Mississippi River. It gives also an idea of the changes that occurred in the 18th century, when Quebec became a British colony. In a time when travel is easy and affordable, this small collection of a museum in Montréal gives a taste of the collections of sundials in other cities around the world. What a great adventure in gnomonics for all of us! Robert Felix SUNMASTER 2002 - a portable solar timer and navigator for the northern and southern hemispheres A discussion of the development, the function and the ideas behind a new universal ring dial available from Robert's shop. Nancy Frankel Keene State College Sundial Commission The subject of this presentation will be a Sundial sculpture commissioned by Keene State College in New Hampshire. This is an east-west meridian sundial designed so that the shape of the sunlight shining through an opening at the top marks the hours. It is 6' high, 5' long and 40" wide and is made of Design Cast, a man-made stone. I will concentrate on the sundial as sculpture, how the dialing was incorporated into the design, and the process of making it, from initial proposal to the finished work. This would include a description of the material used and my experience with it in past works. A slide presentation will document all phases of construction and I have a maquette of the Sundial which can be put on display. Bill Gottesman Setting Your Sundial To Read Solar, Standard, or Daylight Savings Time. A high precision method of sundial alignment. My talk will present a method for aligning a sundial by taking three time readings over the course of a day, as well as the theory behind it. No tedious formulas will be discussed, but rather I will focus on concepts and graphics. This method, which I have not found described previously, enables all "right ascension" sundials to be properly tilted and aligned for optimum precision, even dials made for a different location, without needing to know the longitude or latitude of the dial's design! Interestingly, this method also partly compensates for errors of poor construction, such as a tilted gnomon. Bob Kellogg A New Generation of Digital Sundial Over the last five years there have been a number of digital dial patents, including those relying on nearly uniform grills. A new generation of vertically declining digital dials is outlined that is suitable for window installation. The interior view of the dial presents the local time in real alphanumeric such as "12:30 PM", similar to the principles given in the 1997 Patent 5,596,553 by Bob Kellogg. This new generation of digital dials is based on shadow planes described so elegantly by Mac Oglesby, et. al. Tom Kreyche Projections of the Sphere for the Planispheric Astrolabe and Double Horizontal Dial The most remarkable aspect of sundial design is the attraction it holds for people with a spectrum of interests--from art, history and architecture to the sciences. My personal bias is towards instruments that expose the workings of the cosmos. The best examples are the planispheric astrolabe and its close cousin, the double horizontal sundial, because they illuminate with a remarkable aesthetic appeal. The armillary sphere and spherical astrolabes could be considered, but they are distinctly different types of instruments and will not be discussed in this paper. The planispheric astrolabe and double horizontal sundial have important similarities--they are both observational devices, used for measuring positions of astronomical bodies, and also computational devices for solving astronomical problems. However, the astrolabe is more flexible and suited to computation, while the double horizontal sundial is more specialized as an observational instrument. The essential concept behind the astrolabe and the double horizontal dial is the representation of the three dimensional celestial sphere onto a planar surface, and related to an observer's local position. This representation, called a projection, can take many forms. Some projections are known from antiquity, hundreds are published and many more have yet to be developed. Their applications vary widely-from historical interest to common use in mapmaking to purely mathematical recreations. Over the centuries, many papers have been written on astrolabe theory and design. Many are confusing because terminology was developed before the science was completely understood. And the graphical design techniques that were employed are less relevant today. This paper uses strict cartographic descriptions to present a general background on projections, and an in-depth discussion of those used for the planispheric astrolabe and double horizontal sundial. This knowledge is essential to understanding the designs and applications of these instruments, and is applicable to other sundial designs as well. The paper also includes a discussion of computer based design techniques. Tony Moss Before Your Very Eyes ! A practical introduction to the layout of a sundial using Adobe Illustrator software. Using a laptop and a video projector the elements of a typical dial will be generated from scratch on screen with the various tools, techniques and shortcuts explained. Fred Sawyer The Foster Point Dial - Time In A Perfect Round This talk will introduce a new form of horizontal sundial whose hour points are distributed evenly around the dial as though on a clock face. Although the form is new, the dial design follows directly from a little known scale developed in the 17th century by Samuel Foster. Fred Sawyer ShadowCatchers This talk will introduce NASS members to a new publishing project designed to give them access to facsimile reproductions of a number of rare books on dialing. Fred Sawyer A New Universal Altitude Sundial Fred plans to introduce a form of universal altitude sundial based on Samuel Foster's 'geometrical square'. Sara Schechner Savvy Travelers How time finding tools served those on the move in the Renaissance. A look at pocket sundials and astronomical compendia, with their remarkable components (including gazetteers, specialized hour scales, astrolabes, quadrants, nocturnals, maps, and travel guides). John Schilke Oh, East is East and West is West..A Note On The Prime Vertical The prime vertical is that great circle which passes through the zenith and nadir and the east and west points of the horizon. It is thus orthogonal to the meridian and to the horizon. It has a few properties which make it useful for the diallist: several terms of formulae in common use vanish, simplifying calculations. We present two methods of establishing the PV as well as examples of dials for which a readily determined local east-west line is even more convenient than the meridian. The Sundial Tour Our Saturday bus tour will go through Montreal, Laval, Longueuil and Boucherville and will highlight an amazing 19 sundials (1 armillary, 3 equatorials, 9 horizontals, 5 verticals and 1 polyhedral). At the Planetarium of Montreal we will view an exhibit of an additional 24 sundials from the Stewart Museum. We will have lunch at the Restaurant Hélène de Champlain on St. Helen Island, with a view of Mount Royal.
