Presentation title: Sundials and Solar Geometry

Lecture 15. Sundials and Solar Geometry

ARCH. 140 Midterm 2009 Grade Distribution

C (~15%)

B (~50%)

A (~25%)

9 February

5 March

An early March sunset as seen on the Lawrence Hall of Sciences Bay Cam. This is one of my favorite web sites. (http://www.lhs.berkeley.edu)

Around the globe, civic structures like Stonehenge below often marked landmark events in the heavens and their own place on earth.

In about 30 B.C. Marcus Vitruvius Roman architect, contemporary of Julius Caesar, and muse to architects for millennia - described 13 different sundial designs used in Greece, Asia Minor, and Italy. He lamented that by his day all possible forms of the art had been discovered.

Christopher Wren is best known as the architect of St. Paul's Cathedral and other London churches, but his first love was science and mathematics. During the first part of his career he worked as an astronomer.

JPLs Mars sundial Currently providing time and color calibration cues to Martian locations

The Mars dial as seen on Mars .

and in an artists rendition that has Mars looking remarkably like the American Southwest.

Back to Earth where it is diagrammatically summer above the equator

Summer above the arctic circle in photographs

4 am

6 am

8 am

10 am

noon

2 pm

Summer above the arctic circle in photographs

4 pm

6 pm

8 pm

10 pm

midnight

2 am

Yet more proof that the Earth revolves around its north-south axis and the notion that there are time implications in this fact.

Converting Solar Time

Solar time is unique for each location according to longitude and time of year, It is relatively straightforward to relate solar time to local standard time. Local solar time (LSoT) is simply the local clock time adjusted for these factors:

LSoT = LST + (4 minutes * (LSTM - LL)) + EoT

Step 1. Determine the local standard time, LST. This is clock time, adjusted for daylight savings time if necessary. If daylight savings is in effect, subtract one hour. Step 2. Determine the local standard time meridian, LSTM. Step 3. Determine the local longitude, LL. Step 4. Determine the equation of time, EoT , adjustment in minutes.

Time zones Standard meridians run at roughly 15 intervals

Time zones Standard meridians run at roughly 15 intervals

The analemma conveys both declination and the equation of time

Solar Analemma photographs taken in Greece by Anthony Ayiomamitis

Converting Solar Time

Solar time is unique for each location according to longitude and time of year, It is relatively straightforward to relate solar time to local standard time. Local solar time (LSoT) is simply the local clock time adjusted for these factors:

LSoT = (LST 1)+ (4 minutes * (LSTM - LL)) + EoT = (11:20 1)+ (4 minutes * (120 - 122)) + (-10) = 10:02
Step 1. Determine the local standard time, LST. This is clock time, adjusted for daylight savings time if necessary. If daylight savings is in effect, subtract one hour. Step 2. Determine the local standard time meridian, LSTM. Step 3. Determine the local longitude, LL. Step 4. Determine the equation of time, EoT , adjustment in minutes.

Isogonic chart for the US Mainland

A visual tour through several types of sundial: Horizontal Flag pole Polar Vertical declining Equatorial Diptych Scaphe Armillary sphere Cylindrical Analemmatic Meridian For each of these look for the landmarks of due south, the earths north-south axis, the equatorial plane, and the ground plane

Horizontal Sundial
It is a dial on a horizontal plane, with a style inclined towards the pole. It gives the hour during all the day. It is generally drawn on the ground or installed on a column in a garden. The angle between the style and the table of the dial is equal to the latitude of the place.

Horizontal Sundial Nomenclature

Laying out horizontal horizontal sundial Laying aout adial (1) in six easy steps:

1. Make a protractor by dividing a half circle with lines at an even 15 spacing. 2. Create a style from a rightangled sheet of stock. Cut at an angle that equals latitude for the sundial site.

3. Glue the style to the north south axis of the sundials base.

Laying out a horizontal dial (1)

Laying out a horizontal sundial in six easy steps: 4. Slice a tube on its long axis and affix to the top of your style.

5. Lean your protractor against the north slope of your style and project the angles to the sundial baseplane using a string.

6. Connect the south base of the style to your projected points with straight lines.

Handwritten class notes on the construction of horizontal sundials by president in training James Madison

Another type of horizontal sundial uses a vertical gnomon often called Flagpole Plots

Flagpole plots for many latitudes are available in Sun, Wind, and Light.

Did the Arch. 140 Sundial Exercise precipitate the Berkeley parking meter crisis?

Polar Sundial
The polar dial sundial in which the dial plate is set along the East-West direction and inclines so that it is parallel with the polar axis. The hour lines are parallel. The polar dial can also be cylindrical.

Polar sundials under close guard in England

Declining Vertical Sundials

Their biggest advantage is visibility from a distance. In Europe vertical dials can be found on walls of all orientations. Of course those on east- and westfacing walls only tell the time for part of the day and south-facing dials are useful for a larger time of the year.

A contemporary vertical sundial in glass

Built in the first half of the 1st century B.C. by the astronomer Andronicos, this octagonal marble tower, still standing; has 9 sundials, friezes of the 8 winds, and remains of an astronomical water-clock and reservoir

Vertical declining dial on a house in Pustertal, Austria circa 1576

Two of the eight dials on the faade of the Louis le Grande High School in Paris

Contemporary vertical dials

Equatorial Sundial
The equatorial or universal sundial is the easiest dial to make. The gnomon is parallel to the earth's axis and the dial plate lies in the plane of the equator. The hour lines are spaced at 15, so that the face looks very much like that of a traditional clock except ..

The style in an equatorial sundial is tilted at an angle equal to the latitude, the high end of the style points north, and the disc is parallel to the earths equatorial plane.

An equatorial sundial in Indias lower latitudes

A contemporary dial near the equator -- Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Equatorial or polar?

This small equatorial dial made for shading models has an adjustable hour scale

But wait -- it is time for the 7th inning stretch

And then there is the issue of precision in timekeeping

An analemmic gnomon

Heliochronometers with sighting mechanisms, gears, and dial indicators.

A sundial using cylindrical focusing mirrors to project a sharply focused beam on the inside of a helix shaped scale.

The sundials base features handsome latitude wedges

A contemporary Gunning heliochronometer

Diptych
The meridian dial is a particular case of the vertical direct south dial which gives the hour only around local midday. This type of dial was used to synchronize clocks and portable watches with the Sun. The analemma curve is often drawn around the noon line, to visualize seasonal departures from mean time.

Sunsets from Bentons office

Scaphe
The conical, scaphe or bowl sundial uses the concave segment of a circular cone as the dial face. They are similar in appearance to the hemicyclium, which was invented by the Greeks and then copied by the Romans

A Korean sundial circa 1875

An Italian equatorial scaphe dial circa 1600

Armillary Sphere
Armillary or ring sundials consist of a system of rings that represent the major circles of the terrestrial and celestial spheres. The hour lines are evenly spaced on the equatorial ring. The style is the axis of the sphere

How many sundial landmarks can you spot on this armillary sphere?

Sundials as graphic design objects by Analemma

FLASH from the BBC 1/27/04: Made of three polished stainless steel towers, the Derbyshire Sundial will cast a shadow across a 60-metre base marked out to trace both time and the rotation of the earth. The main tower will point due south, while the other two will mark sunrise and sunset on the summer solstice.

Cylindrical or pole sundials

Portable cylinder or pillar sundials are also called poke dials or shepherd's dials, because they used to be carried in the pockets (pokes) by shepherds. Another name for this dial is the traveler's dial. The dial is in the form of a cylinder with the gnomon attached to a movable top. The hour lines are in the form of curves inscribed or printed on the cylinder. To tell the time, the gnomon is set over the vertical line of the day and the time read off where shadow of the point of the gnomon falls on a hour line

Former Arch. 140 GSI Hugh Tuffley with some cylindrical dials from Arch. 140 past.

Analemmatic Sundial
It is an elliptic horizontal dial which has the characteristic to have a mobile style. This style must be moved according to the date along an axis (small axis of the ellipse). This type of dial is often realized in great dimension on the ground and a person casts her shadow while being placed on the graduation corresponding to the date. There are also analemmatic dials with tilted styles.

Meridian Sundial
The meridian dial is a particular case of the vertical direct south dial which gives the hour only around local midday. This type of dial was used to synchronize clocks and portable watches with the Sun. The analemma curve is often drawn around the noon line, to give the mean time. Many meridian have been installed on churches

The Jantar-Mantar of Delhi

The Indian astronomer Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II (1688-1743 AD) built a series of stone observatories throughout India.

The Jantar-Mantar of Delhi

These are extraordinary structures basically buildings and spaces as instruments of observation.

Schema for Equidistant Sun Path Diagram

Got to here at a pretty fast clip in 2004 Benton

In Review: Solar Geometry variables from previous lectures

Solar Declination () relative tilt of equatorial plane to ecliptic plane Solar Altitude () position of sun above horizon in a vertical plane Zenith angle (Z) suns position referenced to the zenith in a vertical plane Solar Azimuth () horizontal position of sun referenced to south Solar Surface Azimuth () Angle in plan between the sun and a line normal to a surface. Angle of Incidence () True angle (in three-dimensions) between the sun and a line normal to a surface. Profile Angle ( ) Position of sun translated into a two-dimensional vertical plane (as in section)

New this lecture: . Solar Geometry variables

Angle of Incidence () Angle of sun to a line normal to the surface in question (time and orientation specific) Solar-Surface Azimuth () Angle in plan between the sun and a line normal to the surface in question (time and orientation specific) Surface Tilt () Tilt of a surface relative to the ground plane (orientation specific)

Solar-Surface Azimuth () Angle in plan between the sun and a line normal to the surface in question (time and orientation specific)
Sunsets from Bentons office

Solar-Surface Azimuth ()

Profile Angle ( ) Position of sun translated into a two-dimensional vertical plane (as in section)

Profile Angle ( )

Profile Angle ( )

Profile Angle ( )

Excel worksheet via WWW site if there is time