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Sundial

A garden dial laid out for one place. Choose where it stands and every line on the plate is set again for that latitude and longitude.

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Where it stands

    Make one

    The print sheet has this dial at full size, a gnomon to cut out, and how to set it up. The SVG is the face alone, for a cutter or an engraver.

    Download SVG
    Reading the plate
    • Hour lines run from the foot of the gnomon. Its sloping edge points at the celestial pole, so its shadow swings at an even pace through the sky but lands on lines that crowd toward noon.
    • Date lines are traced by the tip of the shadow: the solstices at either end, the equinoxes on the straight line, the start of each zodiac sign between.
    • The figure eight marks where the tip falls at noon on the clock. It leans and loops because the sun runs up to a quarter of an hour fast or slow through the year.
    • Off the meridian: the lines are set for the clock zone's meridian, so the XII line sits off the gnomon by however far the place is east or west of it.