Dear Willy, I am not very familiar with the Prague clock and I am confused by the recent messages. You say:
... the clock indicates now Central European Time rather than solar time as it once was... This suggests something far more radical than simply setting the clock for the wrong longitude to keep the tourists happy. If I interpret you literally, you seem to be saying two conflicting things about the mechanism at the heart of the clock: NOW: the clock indicates Central European Time - this suggests exactly 24 common hours each day (albeit set for the wrong longitude). IN FORMER TIMES: the clock indicated local sun time - this suggests that there were NOT exactly 24 common hours each day because sun time is not quite in step with common hours. QUESTION Did the clock really indicate local sun time before it was adapted to keep tourists happy? If the answer is yes, that means the clock mechanism used to take account of the Equation of Time AND that this mechanism has now been disconnected. Can this be true? My guess is that the clock used to indicate local MEAN sun time but I should like to have that guess confirmed or rejected! Frank H. King Cambridge, UK --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
