Willy Leenders wrote:
> I visited the website http://www.sundials.co.uk/~ecuador.htm
>
> Quito lies about 10 miles south of the Equator, so that gnomons parallel
> to the earths axis are horizontal.
>
> But at the sundial outside the main entrance of the Universidad Central
> de Quito (picture 2) the gnomon is not horizontal.
>
> Hour lines on a vertical sundial at the Equator forms angles of 15
> degrees between them.
>
> That is not so on the sundial near the church of Guapolo (picture 1)
>
> Who can explain this?
>
> Regards
>
> Willy Leenders
I'll give it a go. I measured the hour lines on the photo of the first
sundial. Assuming the photograph accurately reproduces the angles, I
calculate that this sundial is marked out for latitude 40 degrees. Now, 40
degrees north passes straight through Spain and Portugal. Could the sundial
have been made by someone who learnt his or her trade there, or used a book
published there?
A similar explanation might account for the gnomon angle of picture 2, I
imagine.
Chris Lusby Taylor
Newbury, England
51.4N, 1.3W
