Sacramento  

 Sundial: 1024
State/Province:  California Country:  USA
Dial Type:  Equatorial Dial Condition:  Excellent
  Latitude and Longitude: 38° 39.018’ N  121° 20.870’ W
Location:
  • American River College
    4700 College Oak Dr.
    Sacramento, CA 95841

    On campus, east of the
    Diane Bryant STEM Innovation Center and nearly in front of the Instructional Technology Center
 
Description:
  • A 6 foot wide x 5-foot high burnished stainless steel equatorial sundial. The meridian arc is parabolic shaped and the equatorial arc is slightly more than a gracefully tapered half-circle 5 1/2-feet in diameter. The central elliptical gnomon plate, which swivels to face the sun, has an analemma cutout that casts an accurate civil-time shadow onto the equatorial ring below. The gnomon plate is laser-etched with the analemma, months and 365 days of the year, and marks for the equinoxes and solstices, and instructions. The equatorial timeline is laser-etched with hour and minute marks from 6:30 AM to 6:30 PM. The sundial body rotates and locks in position for either Daylight Saving or Standard Time. The sundial is highly accurate compensating for longitude (the equatorial ring is rotated 5min 24 sec early to measure solar time on the pacific meridian) and equation of time (by reading the east or west edge of the analemma plate gnomon shadow). The sundial often indicates clock time to within seconds and the date to within a portion of the day. A stainless steel base cover encloses the mounting hardware beneath.
 
General Information:Inscription:
  • Owner: American River College
  • Instructions on the Gnomon:
    1. Tilt this plate to directly face the sun, casting the widest possible shadow.
    2. Read the exact time where the figure-8’s shadow touches the timeline on the dial ‘arms’ below.
    3. Run your finger above the edge of this figure-8 cutout. When your finger’s shadow touches the timeline below, then the edge of your finger is directly over today’s date.

    Commemorative Plaque at the Base:
    Dedicated to Dr. Rina B. Roy for her 30 years of service to ARC upon her retirement as Dean of Science and Engineering without whom the modernization of Astronomy, Engineering and Physics in the Diane Bryant Innovation Center would not have been possible. July 31, 2021
  • Designer: Pete Swanstrom
  • Builder: New Millennium Sundials
  • Construction Date: Dedicated July 31, 2021
 
References: Web Links:
  • The dial gnomon uses a cut-out analemma to cast the time-correcting shadow. Sometimes this is referred to as an analemmic gnomon

Last Revised: 2021-10-20 17:44