Dear Nicola, You write...
> Yes this is a very curious (and unique) sundial. Well, we have curious sundials in England too :-) Take a look at: http://www.cl.cam.ac.uk/users/fhk1/SSinB.jpg This photograph was taken by a friend of mine in Cornwall, in south-west England, and shows a dial on the vertical wall of a church. The wall is close to direct south-facing. The curious feature of this dial is that it leans *backwards* because its lower edge is propped out. [This is quite different from canting a vertical dial about a vertical axis to change the declination.] The Church is in a place called S. Stephen in Brannel whose latitude is about 50 deg north. The dial appears to be leaning backwards about 40 deg so the plane of the dial is almost parallel to the Earth's axis. This plane has aproximately the same orientation as that of a horizontal dial at the equator so the hour-lines should be parallel lines. Very obviously this dial is NOT marked out for such an orientation. Also the gnomon is close to horizontal. Of course, if you are short-sighted like me, you could forget the gnomon and the dial markings altogether and just use the shadow of the dial plate itself. This is very clear in the photograph. The edges of the dial plate are approximately polar-oriented! All that are needed are some lines painted on the wall of the church and this would work very well :-) I don't have a copy of the Register but someone can tell me how this dial came to be so curiously mounted. > The strange thing: on location, I have see that this > strange sundial, inclined, show the hours correctly! Hmmm. I think you were very lucky :-) > A thing is sure ... his incredible "Terrace of the > Infinity". Ah yes, I sometimes find myself dividing by zero too :-) Best wishes Frank --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
