Equatorial Sundial
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Date
0000-00-00
Authors
University of Texas at Austin
Mcdonald Observatory
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
McDonald Observatory
Abstract
Department
Description
Introduction: One of astronomy’s first tools to measure the flow of time, a sundial is
simply a stick that casts a shadow on a face marked with units of time.
As Earth spins, the shadow sweeps across the face. There are many
types of sundials; an equatorial sundial is easy to make and teaches fundamental
astronomical concepts. The face of the sundial represents the
plane of Earth’s equator, and the stick represents Earth’s spin axis.