In article ,
Stewart Robert Hinsley wrote:
In message , Martin Brown
writes
Kay wrote:

Otherwise it could read up to 30 minutes out of sync with reality. You
need to know the correction for apparent solar noon for your longitude
and date. The seasonal analemma curve is very beautiful.

http://solar-center.stanford.edu/art/analemma.html

Well made sundials have a small table of corrections or a devisouly
shaped gnomon to allow for this.

And presumably to take advantage of the deviously shaped gnomon have to
be precisely aligned?

uk.rec.gardening maintains its tradition of gnomic utterances :-)


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

Ok just popped outside dont normally look at the sun in the winter, and
it's not in the same place as the summer. In the summer it comes over
the deck at a diangle but today it's straight left to right on the
garden. Is this normal?

The message om
from "htmark98" contains these words:

Ok just popped outside dont normally look at the sun in the winter, and
it's not in the same place as the summer. In the summer it comes over
the deck at a diangle but today it's straight left to right on the
garden. Is this normal?

No, this means your sky is falling in. Probably the satellite dish
has worn a small hole in it.

Janet

The message
from Kay contains these words:

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
OTOH, for gardening purposes, the direction of the sun at midday is
probably close enough - unless you're setting up a sundial.

If you're setting up a sundial, isn't enough to wait till the sun comes
out, and then align it so it shows the correct time?

If you're setting up a sundial in the UK, do it in summertime after
the clocks change. Then it will tell you the right time when you're most
likely to be outside, and in sunshine) and will be one hour out in
wintertime.

"chris French" wrote in message
...
In message , Sla#s
writes

"htmark98" wrote in message
groups.com...
I havent a compass


If you have a watch you have a compass.

So how does that work with my digital watch then?

Might have known there would be one who was difficult!(:-)

Alan

--
Chris French

"htmark98" wrote in message
ps.com...
Ok just popped outside dont normally look at the sun in the winter, and
it's not in the same place as the summer. In the summer it comes over
the deck at a diangle but today it's straight left to right on the
garden. Is this normal?

But was it 12.00 noon when you looked?

If you look at different times it will be in different directions.

Alan

"htmark98" wrote in message
ps.com...
Ok just popped outside dont normally look at the sun in the winter, and
it's not in the same place as the summer. In the summer it comes over
the deck at a diangle but today it's straight left to right on the
garden. Is this normal?

Milankovitch Cycles innit ?
Jenny

htmark98 wrote:
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking
onto the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is
SE. So which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door
down at it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

Go out into the garden at about mid-day. point at the sun. You are pointing
and facing about south!!!

pk

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
chris French wrote:

If you have a watch you have a compass.

So how does that work with my digital watch then?

Watch it until it says 12:00 (or 0:00), look for the sun, and that
is south. If it is all dark when you look, wait until it next
reads that value.

Alternatively, upgrade to an analogue watch.

The Australian method works with either kind of watch, and at any time
of day or night. When lost in the bush, take off your watch, turn round
three times, then throw it as far as you can, keeping an eye on the
direction. You can now work out all the other compass directions, as
your watch has gone west.

--
Mike.

"Janet Baraclough" wrote in message
...
The message
from Kay contains these words:

Stewart Robert Hinsley writes
OTOH, for gardening purposes, the direction of the sun at midday is
probably close enough - unless you're setting up a sundial.

If you're setting up a sundial, isn't enough to wait till the sun comes
out, and then align it so it shows the correct time?

If you're setting up a sundial in the UK, do it in summertime after
the clocks change. Then it will tell you the right time when you're most
likely to be outside, and in sunshine) and will be one hour out in
wintertime.

I made a Sundial for the side of the house. It's no problem to put both GMT
and BST on. I put winter in negative, summer in positive.

Slatts

"htmark98" wrote in message
oups.com...
I havent a compass yet but looking at street maps by house looking onto
the street is facing NorthWest so looking at my front door is SE. So
which way is my back garden facing looking from the back door down at
it or from the bottom of the garden up to the house.

If it's down towards it again looking at it's facing South East
(approx 120). But i think i'll need a compass to get an exact figure,
is there anywhere online that wil tell me this to save me buying a
compass?

But most important is this a good garden for growing? Havent started
yet so what do people recommend?

Thanks
************
In England,
Go into the garden at dawn. Stand facing the newly rising sun.
That direction is East - (from your garden.)
At twelve stand facing the sun. That's South.
At twilight stand facing the sun. That's West.
Don't get up at midnight to look for North because the sun doesn't go that
far in direction (pertaining to your garden.)
The height of the sun's arc at mid-say will be the highest of the day but
will be higher in summer and lower in winter.
Doug.

************

doug wrote:
************
In England,
Go into the garden at dawn. Stand facing the newly rising sun.
That direction is East - (from your garden.)
At twelve stand facing the sun. That's South.
At twilight stand facing the sun. That's West.


only the middle one works!

pk