Sundials > Armillary sundial

Our armillary garden sundial mirrors the ancient idea of the armillary sphere that astronomers used to help them understand the heavens. An equatorial band runs parallel to the equator of the world and the rod axis is in line with Polaris the pole star in the night sky. When the sun is shining the rod becomes a gnomon casting its shadow onto the equator band. The sun passes across the sky and the sundial reads solar time.

Two round balls sit on the rings of the tropics. At noon each day their shadows will appear. The shadow of the upper ball shows on the vertical band in the summer months, and the lower ball in winter, and they each will follow the height of the sun during the year. Summer and winter solstice are at the turning points of their travel. At the equinox in spring and autumn the two shadows both appear. Mathematical spirals form the three sundial legs. This armillary sundial is a delight of ancient science and an intriguing and beautiful object for the garden.