On Wed, 6 Mar 1996, Pam Eastlick <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: >.... Here at 13 degrees north, a sundial must be quite large for >the gnomen to have an appreciable rise. >> >....Is there some way to overcome this problem? Someone once suggested that >perhaps the sundial base could be tilted. >
Pam: Daniel's suggestion will work fine. At your latitude, the top bar of the inverted U would be inclined 13 degrees from horizontal, so it points to the celestial pole. The main idea is to lift this bar high enough above the ground for a reasonable shadow motion as the Sun moves across the sky. What you are using is, in fact, a small portion of a much longer, imaginary gnomon that intersects the ground many meters south of your sundial's location. Tilting a sundial calculated for a higher latitude than yours is also a quite workable solution. But I like the first idea better! Roger Sinnott Sky & Telescope
