Hello David,
In no way am I belittling your problem, or the religious group involved, but I can't help wondering how they determined the exact times when the sun was due east and west at their previous location. Or, their locations before that.
Best wishes, Mac
At first sight, this looked like a 'trivial' request - but it very quickly became apparent that I don't have enough knowledge, and so I have joined this mailing-list in the hope of getting help from people who may be more able to say whether it is even possible! I am located in Northern Ireland, and (knowing of my hobby-level interest in Amateur Astronomy) - I was recently asked if it would be possible to tell the exact time when the sun is DUE EAST & WEST. There is a local group of Muslim 'asylum-seekers', who have been moved here from mainland Britain - and (as part of their religious observance duties), they want to arrange prayer sessions whenever the sun is precisely in both the due East and due West directions. Initially, I thought "Easy - just have a vertical stick (or any simple 'nodus'), with some North/South/East/West markings on the ground, and they can watch the shadow until it shows that time". However, two problems - (1) What if it is not sunny, and (2) Even if it is sunny, what would they do during the Winter period, when the sun will rise/set without reaching the East/West directions? My next thought was "OK, it should be possible to use a computer program to calculate the times, for every day of the year" - BUT the Muslim group will not accept any form of 'modern technology' for this task, and insist that it must be done either by direct observation or obvious mechanical means (apparently some type of simple 'clockwork' will be OK for them, but nothing electronic). My question is therefore "Can the moment when the sun is exactly due East or West be determined, in any way which will satisfy this 'fundamentalist' Muslim group - or is it an impossible request? Any thoughts or suggestions from members will be much appreciated. Sincerely, David Lawrence. -- -
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