Help Find a Stolen Dial

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Published: 06 July 2011

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 If you look in the NASS Sundial Registry at Dial #617 from Ann Arbor Michigan you will see a lovely equatorial sundial on the grounds of the University of Michigan North Campus near the College of Engineering buildings.  The dial exists only as a photo and a memory.  Last April between the 13^th and 15^th it was stolen according to the Detroit Free Press.

The bronze equatorial dial has a circular nodus on the polar gnomon arrow to mark the seasons on the broad equatorial band. 

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Board Elects to Repair Sun City Sundial

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Published: 26 February 2011

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The Recreation Center Sun City (RCSC) Board of Directors has decided to repair the sundial monument at the corner of 103rd Avenue and Boswell Boulevard [in Sun City, Arizona].

At this time, it is impossible to know an exact repair cost until further inspection can be made below the surface. We do know that the three steel supports at the foundation must be repaired to restore the steel supports’ structural capacity to ensure further deterioration does not occur.

Read more: Board Elects to Repair Sun City Sundial

VSSC Space Museum gets Polar Sundial

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Published: 17 December 2024

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In November 2024, a team consisting of members from SPL, TTDG and CMD of VSSC successfully designed and installed an accurate and fully functional sundial at the Rocket Garden of VSSC Space Museum, Thumba (8.53°N, 76.86°E). Following a space theme, the vertical gnomon is a 3-stage rocket that casts its daily and seasonal shadow on a dial face 1 1/2 meters by 1 meter.  The the sundial face is the top of a wedge with an angle of 8.53°.  Instead of hour and minute lines, every 15 minutes shows a complete analemma with the path from December to June in red and from June back to December in blue. The dial is corrected for longitude and shows Indian Standard Time from 9:00 to 15:30.

Photos of the sundial can be seen on India Space Research Organization (ISRO) website: https://www.isro.gov.in/SundialVSSCSpaceMuseum.html

Shelbyville Sundial

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Published: 13 November 2024

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It isn't often that a sundial face is created before the gnomon is attached.  In Shelbyville IN a large, circular art piece in the form of a sundial, was created at the Blue River Trailhead early in 2024.  If they had chosen an analemmatic sundial, a walker of the trail could have simply stood on the appropriate date and used his or her own shadow to tell the local solar time.  But Shelbyville residents have a more ambitious plan.  The artistically paintedd design is a typical horizontal sundial, requiring a real slanted gnomon. In a news article by Jeff Brown in The Shelby County Post for Nov 12, 2024, "The Blue River Community Foundation received approval Tuesday morning from the Board of Works and Public Safety to purchase and install a gnomon that will turn the art piece at the Blue River Trailhead just north of downtown Shelbyville into a functioning sundial." According to the article, the completion of the sundial will be paid for by grants and private donations.

Photo from The Shelby County Post with a "birds eye view" insert of the sundial layout.  The gnomon will cross half or more of the path.

Read the Jeff Brown's article at: ShelbyCountyPost

Sun Tower Competed

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Published: 04 November 2024

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For two years News Atlas (https://newatlas.com/architecture/) has reported on the progress of the construction of the Sun Tower in Yantai, China.  The 164-foot (50m) curved conical tower was designed by OPEN Architecture symbolized the watch towers of the Ming dynasty (1368 to 1644 CE) that looked out over the coastline to warn of impending attack from the sea.

Adam Williams in the Nov. 4, 2024 issue of News Atlas provides another "infomercial" on the Sun Tower completed and opened in November on schedule:. 

"Informed by meticulous studies of the Sun, the northern edge of the building is parallel to the noon sunlight of the equinoxes, while the entrance tunnel aligns with the sunset during the Winter Solstice," explains OPEN Architecture. "Sitting at the center of the Sun Tower is a semi-outdoor theater, which has been orientated with its central axis pointing towards the sunrise over Zhifu Island on Summer Solstice."

"Facing the ocean, the concave inner shell absorbs the sounds of the ocean, amplifying back through the structure, and down to the amphitheater at the base. Radiating from the center of the Plaza is a series of elliptical rings, resembling planetary orbits. A water channel is carved into the stone pavement. The intersections between the rings and the water channel mark the building shadow at specific hours during the equinoxes, and one outer ring features a series of fountains that celebrate the 24 solar terms of the traditional Chinese calendar."

This is an impressive structure.

Canadian Sundial Coin

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Published: 10 October 2024

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The Canadian Royal Mint will release a fully functioning sundial coin expected to ship on 12 December, 2024.  The obverse is a profile of His Majesty, Charles III (designed by Steve Rosati) and the reverse is a full 3-dimensional sundial (designed by Anna Bucciarelli).  With a highly decorated dial face and gnomon, the dial is designed for 45° N latitude, telling time from 6am to 6pm.

The first minting of 5,000 coins is already subscribed, and we hope there will be a second minting.  The coin is 99.99% pure silver with a gnomon "styled to complement the coin base's ornate design" made of rhodium-plated brass   The coin is 38mm in diameter, weighing 31.30 g.

From the Canadian Royal Mint website: "This sundial is appropriate for mid-northern latitudes. To use your coin as a sundial, place it on a flat surface in direct sunlight and with the gnomon pointing north. Take note of where the shadow’s outer edge lines up, and that should indicate the approximate local solar time. (Like any sundial, some additional adjustments may be required due to longitude and the time of year.)" We assume of course that these adjustments are mathematical!  Longitude adjustment is made with reference to your local time zone. For example Calgary at 114° W is in the Mountain Standard Time Zone of 105° W.  That is, Calgary is 9° further west of the time zone meridian.  Each degree is 4 minutes of time so the sundial shadow West of the time zone is 9 x 4 =36 minutes "early".  (East of the time zone is "late").  If the clock says noon, the Calgary sundial shadow will show approximately 11:24 am (with an additional correction due to the sun's time excursion of +/- 15 min. called the Equation of Time).

Read more about the sundial coin at: https://www.mint.ca/en/shop/coins/2024/fine-silver-coin-the-sundial

And visit their webpage  https://www.mint.ca/en/blog/2024-10-six-canadian-sundials-to-discover highlighting six Canadian sundials - a different type of sundial for each of Canada's six time zones.