Download Introduction to Sun Motion

Introduction to Sun Motion
Lucie Fontein
Carleton University
Does the sun move around the earth
or
The earth move around the sun?
Does the sun move around the earth
or
The earth move around the sun?
How do you know the answer to this question?
Vitruvius
Ten Books of Architecture, Book 1, Chapter 2
Architecture depends on Order, Arrangement, Eurythmy, Symmetry,
Propriety and Economy.
There will also be natural propriety in using an eastern light for
bedrooms and libraries, a western light in winter for baths and winter
apartments, and a northern light for picture galleries and other places in
which a steady light is needed; for that quarter of the sky grows neither
light nor dark with the course of the sun, but remains steady and
unshifting all day long.
Vitruvius
Ten Books of Architecture, Book 6, Chapter 1
If our designs for private houses are to be correct, we must at the
outset take note of the countries and climates in which they are built.
One style of house seems appropriate to build in Egypt, another in
Spain, one still different in Rome…
This is because one part of the earth is directly under the sun’s course,
another is far away from it, while another lies midway between these
two. Hence, as the position of the heaven with regard to a given tract
on the earth leads naturally to different characteristics, owing the the
inclination of the circle of the zodiac and the course of the sun, it is
obvious that designs for houses ought similarly to conform to the
nature of the country and to diversities of climate.
Vitruvius
Ten Books of Architecture, Book 9, Chapter 1
It is due to the divine intelligence and is a very great wonder to all who
reflect upon it, that the shadow of a gnomon at the equinox is of one
length in Athens, of another in Alexandria, of another in Rome...
Hence drawings for dials are very different from one another,
corresponding to differences of situation. This is because the length of
the shadow at the equinox is used in constructing the figure of the
analemma, in accordance with which the hours are marked to conform
to the shadow of the gnomon. The analemma is a basis of calculation
deduced from the course of the sun, and found by observation of the
shadow as it increases until winter solstice. By means of this, through
architectural principles and the employment of the compasses, we find
out the operation of the sun in the universe
Alexandre Koyré
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, p. 2
This scientific and philosophical revolution can be described as
bringing forth the destruction of the Cosmos, that is
the disappearance of the conception of the world as a finite, closed and
hierarchically ordered whole
(a whole in which the hierarchy of value determined the hierarchy and
structure of being, rising from the dark, heavy and imperfect earth to
the higher and higher perfection of the stars and heavenly spheres)
Alexandre Koyré
From the Closed World to the Infinite Universe, p. 2
and its replacement by
an indefinite and even infinite universe which is bound together by the
identity of its fundamental components and laws, and in which all these
components are placed on the same level of being.
This implies the discarding by scientific thought of all considerations
based upon value-concepts, such as perfection, harmony, meaning and
aim, and finally the utter devalorization of being, the divorce of the
world of value and the world of facts.
Jantar Mantar, Jaipur
Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
Samrat Yantra
A huge equinoctial dial structure
70 feet high, 126 feet E-W, 115 feet N-S
The Hypotenuse (gnomon) is at the angle of
28 degrees, 30 minutes = latitude of Delhi.
It points to the North Star
Reads time within an accuracy of 2 seconds.
Jantar Mantar, New Delhi
Jai Prakash Yantra
2 complementary hemispheres
27.5' in diameter represent the visible
sky turned upside down.
The space in one corresponds to sector
in the other, each represents 1 hour.
The sectors have circles of altitude,
Azimuth, Declination, Meridian, Tropic
and Zodiacs engraved in them.
Originally there were two wires stretched
over the rim N-S and E-W holding a ring
exactly at the center.
The shadow was observed on the
graduated surface for determining the
exact position of the sun.
Stairs inside instrument for observation
at night.
Ram Yantra
2 circular structures, 27.5 feet in diameter, divided into 30 sectors.
Like Jai Prakash, complementary halves of the whole instrument.
Inner sectors raise 3 feet above the ground.
Misra Yantra
5 Instruments combined.
24°N Latitude
28°N Latitude
40°N Latitude
Sun Chart - 44° latitude
LEGEND:
DATE
TIME
BEARING ANGLE
ALTITUDE ANGLE
Sun Chart - 44° latitude - Date
June 21st
- summer solstice
March/September 21st - equinox
December 21st
- winter solstice
Sun Chart - 44° latitude - Time
Sun is directly South at noon.
Solar Time - for daylight savings time:
DST = 1 hour
Sun Chart - 44° latitude - Bearing Angle [Azimouth]
In degrees East or West of South.
Sun Chart - 44° latitude - Altitude Angle
Angle above the horizon.