Hello friends,
Almost a year since moving to Brattleboro, Vermont I finally realized that we owned a paved parking area which would be a good location for an analemmatic sundial. So, over that last few days I've spent a lot of time on my hands and knees, marking out and painting a 4 meter analemmatic dial.
The dial design includes a correction for longitudinal offset. Since the location will be covered by snow and/or shaded by nearby structures during at least some of the winter months, I labeled the hour points for summertime use. This means that from early April (when daylight saving time resumes in most of the USA) until about the middle of September the dial's time should be within a few minutes of clock time. I'm placing a long rod nearby and inviting the user to find the time with a vertical pole, as well as his/her personal shadow.
For marking the hour points, I tried Richard Hollands' idea of using the distances from the dial's center and local noon point. Instead of tape measures, I used long strips of wood (left over from a bookcase project), each with a small hole close to one end to fit over a nail driven into the pavement. Working alone, I found it easier to pre-mark each strip with the hour point locations, than try to handle two tapes at once. Although it wasn't necessary to mark an east-west line, I'm not sure this method is any easier than using x,y coordinates, especially if one follows Bob Terwilliger's method, as explained in the September 1995 Compendium, p 27-8. but it was fun to try something different.
Now, if the sunshine would please return... Best wishes, Mac -
