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| Welcome to
Sundials of the World! CANADA
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The analemmatic sundial
presented on this page is the City of Penticton's Solar
Timepiece located at Skaha Beach. Penticton is located in
the province of British Columbia which is on the west
coast of Canada.
The
Skaha Solar Timepiece was designed by Vancouver sculptor
Gwen Boyle. The sundial was built in 1984, however, it
underwent some major renovations in 1998. All of the
original wood posts were rotting and were replaced with
concrete posts. In addition, a new deck was constructed.
The
following are excerpts taken from the Skaha Solar
Timepiece brochure.
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Skaha Solar
Timepiece literally "turns back the
clock" by the use of the Analemma to measure
Apparent Solar Time. It is a very large sundial
that combines science, people and the sun in a
unique and playful manner. It is
a reminder too, that between earth and sun are
shadows, silently tracing the earth's motions in
the universe.
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| An Analemma is
"a graduated scale of the sun's declination
and of the the equation of time for each day of
the year shaped in the figure 8". It is from
the writing of the ancient Greek mathematician
Ptolemy. In 1506 A.D., the first Analemmatic Dial
was designed by LeLande in Bourg en Bresse,
France, where it still stands. It uses a metal
rod as a gnomon. The horizontal
structure of wood and metal is 65' x 35' and
consists of two parts. The hour posts, which form
an ellipse, mark out in degrees the earth's
rotation on its axis. The rectangular form
contains the Analemma which charts the earth's
annual orbit around the sun. These components,
together with you performing as a moveable
shadow-casting gnomon, will indicate Pacific
Standard Time.
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What makes this
sundial different is YOU. Sundials usually tell
time by its gnomon - a triangular plate or pin by
which its shadow indicates the time. Here, YOU
ARE THAT GNOMON. It is your shadow that measures
the time when you stand on the Anallema, or solar
calendar. |
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