Gordon's Sun Clock: Instructions
‘Gordon's Sun Clock’ is essentially a single-hand clock with a dial that changes daily, oriented to the rhythms of nature and the celestial bodies. It shows the position of the Sun and the starry sky. A new kind of time display that moves in harmony with the seasons and places clock changes and railway time in the context of the annual cycle. Especially as a wall clock, it makes daylight, the lunar date, light seasons and the weather easy to grasp at a glance (not only for children).
NOTE: You can swipe back and forth between this guide and the dial.
–– Your view:
In the centre of the screen you see a horizontal line. This is the horizon (the Earth's surface). The pointed triangle in the middle is a spruce tree that you see from a distance (or a church). You are not looking down at it from above, but standing in front of it.
If you have not changed anything in the settings (‘Viewing direction: automatic’), you are usually facing south in the Northern Hemisphere (north in the Southern Hemisphere). Objects on the left of the screen are in the east, on the right in the west (reversed in the Southern Hemisphere). The respective cardinal directions are shown at the edge of the horizon.
The lighter band below the horizon indicates civil twilight. The large dark grey area symbolises the night (including nautical twilight). Objects located in this area are not visible.
At the top right you see the local time (optional), the altitude of the Sun in degrees in the sky (e.g. 27.6°), as well as your position as a location code (e.g. ‘wř-cȲ’) or a place name if you have entered one. Below that are the light season and the unequal temporal hour display (details: see page 1). At the bottom right you will find weather information, if available (see below), as well as buttons for ‘Time Control’ and navigation.
–– Sun:
The ☉ sun (at the end of the clock’s single hand) moves from left to right over the course of the day (reversed in the southern hemisphere). The farther left the sun is on the screen, the farther east it is; the farther right, the farther west it is (reversed in the southern hemisphere). The higher the sun appears on the screen, the higher it is in the sky.
The sun follows the drawn circular path along which it moves within a day. At the edge of this circle, hours are indicated (e.g. ‘12’ o’clock), so the circle also functions as a clock face. The Sun and Moon touch and cross the horizon with their apparent sizes depicted realistically.
On the clock face, for example, one can see how during daylight saving time the numbers shift, while the circular path remains the same. Or: how legal time at most places differs from local solar time, as 12 o’clock is not exactly at the top of the dial. Temporal hours do it differently: at the 12th hour (12ἡ), it is always sunset.
–– Moon:
The ● moon also has a circular path, shown in light grey. Since the moon takes more than 24 hours to complete one orbit, 1.5 hours from the previous day are appended in extra light grey. If one ‘lives with the clock’, one can nicely observe how the moon spirals higher and lower over the course of 27 days. One can also observe how at full moon it stands opposite the sun on the circle (distant); at new moon, however, it stands at the same position on the circle (close to the sun). It is rarely exactly the same position because the moon’s orbit is inclined relative to the sun’s path. It is exactly the same position only during a solar eclipse.
New moon is displayed for 48 hours because the crescent is usually not visible to the naked eye during this period. Full moon is shown for 24 hours. The sun and moon paths are recalculated at UTC 00:00.
–– Planets:
The five planets visible to the naked eye are shown, depending on the design with photos as they would appear through binoculars, or with their astronomical symbols. When looking at the real night sky, you can distinguish planets from stars by knowing that planets do not twinkle, but shine steadily. They appear larger in the sky than the distant stars and are therefore less affected by fluctuations in atmospheric density.
♀ Venus (pearl-coloured), ♂ Mars (reddish), ♃ Jupiter (striped), ♄ Saturn (with rings), ☿ Mercury (grey)
–– Stars:
Of the 21 brightest stars plus Polaris, those that are visible are shown, depending on the design as coloured lights or as squares. While the planets stay relatively well ordered, usually more or less near the sun’s path, the paths of the stars are independent of the sun – after all, they are suns themselves. A tiny, bright marker orbiting the star symbol shows its relative progress along its altitude path and whether it is currently descending or rising. Another marker above or below shows whether the star is in front of you or behind you. Here are their names (for Arabic names, the pronunciation is given in brackets):
[s] Sirius, [k] Canopus, [f] Alpha Centauri, [a] Arcturus, [w] Vega (an NASSR'l WAH kee), [c] Capella, [r] Rigel (RIJL'l jow ZAH), [p] Procyon, [b] Betelgeuse (YAD'l jow ZAH), [h] Achernar (AH khir'n NAHR), [ha] Hadar, [ax] Acrux, [at] Altair (at TAH eer), [ad] Aldebaran (ad da ba RAHN), [an] Antares, [sp] Spica, [po] Pollux, [fh] Fomalhaut (fam'l HOOT), [d] Deneb (DHA nab), [m] Mimosa, [re] Regulus, [pl] Polaris
–– Meteors:
Each year, Earth encounters dust trails left by small celestial bodies. This produces meteors. During the eight main meteor showers, the area where meteors are especially frequent is marked (though they can appear anywhere). When visibility is good, the search area is red, and many meteors per hour may be visible. The best time is usually the second half of the night, as Earth then rotates into the dust trail. A small circle marks the location from which they appear to originate. It is red if conditions are good on at least one night this year (please check the weather). As with the stars, altitude and direction are indicated, but here they refer to the search area (top = in front of you, bottom = behind you, relative to your viewing direction). Dates vary slightly each year:
[Y] Lyrids (...), [E] Eta Aquariids (...), [D] Southern Delta Aquariids (...), [P] Perseids (...), [O] Orionids (...), [L] Leonids (...), [G] Geminids (...), [Q] Quadrantids (...)
–– Time Control:
To move forwards or backwards in time, press the ⬌ button. Then press and hold in the centre of the screen and slowly swipe right or left. The height determines the step size: years at the top, minutes at the bottom. When released, the dial is recalculated (duration 1–30s). Tap at the very top right or left edge of the screen to jump 1h forwards or backwards. Swipe at the very bottom or top to change pages. To go further back in time, for example to the sky at your birth, additional ephemeris data can be downloaded (years 1900–2050, see page 4).
–– Weather:
A local weather forecast can be displayed at the bottom left. It uses symbols to give a measured impression of the day: for example, ... means actual rain (06:00–18:00), not isolated drizzle (similarly: ... lots of rain, ... snow, ... uncertain, ... dry, ... sunny, ... lots of sunshine, ... calm, ... windy, ... storm, ... hurricane-force). No symbol means unremarkable weather. From bottom to top: daily precipitation data (χ = snow) and sunshine hours, symbols if applicable, weekday = tomorrow; grey = old data, ⁺ = current. The weather data are also used for atmospheric refraction and slightly affect the time of sunrise and sunset. At the bottom right you will find the current temperature and the weather forecast for the next 4 hours (precipitation, sun/clarity).
Detailed weather can be shown on the data page (p. 1). At the top is the hourly forecast for the next 48h: sun/clarity, rain (shows the expected amount and max. where applicable; tap opens radar), snow and gusts. Below are daily tiles with temperature, precipitation, sunshine hours, gust speed and weather symbols. Below that is the weather analysis for the coming days (e.g. “Tomorrow, early morning: 7 °C warmer”) plus a symbol preview for 6 days (... Wed Fri). Tapping the analysis opens long-range weather with daily maximum and minimum temperatures, sunshine duration as a yellow or grey area with an integrated blue precipitation bar. To the left of the sunshine row, a < button switches between forecast and history.
–– History:
‘Gordon's Sun Clock’ is the result of more than twenty years of engagement with the representation of time. The starting point was a mechanical clock displaying the traditional Chinese organ times, with a 24 h dial and a month-dependent display of sunrise and sunset. From this emerged the concept of a Sun Clock, initially as a feasibility study and an ePaper wall clock; later, weather display and GPS were added. The idea of a mobile version culminated in this Android app.
The goal of the development is a representation of time that follows the course of the Sun and the natural daily and annual cycles – as a reconnection of humans with nature and with our inner, circadian time. May it bring joy and insight!
Data
Current data³ for your location...:
– Sun¹ –
Time: ...
Temporal hour: ...
Daylight: ...
Light season: ...
Solstice: ...
Equinox: ...
– Moon² –
Lunar night: ...
Illuminated: ...
Size: ... (85-100)
New moon: ...
Full moon: ...
– Brightness –
Venus: ... (83-100)
Mars: ... (52-100)
Jupiter: ... (87-100)
Saturn: ... (77-100)
Mercury: ... (0-100)
¹ Time: GPS = synchronised | Temporal hour: local, unequal hour (0.0–11.9) ‘ἡ’ of the day or ‘ν’ of the night. ‘φ’ night watch with unequal “minutes” (0φ00–3φ59), ¾6 = 6th temporal hour three-quarters complete | Light season: see below | Daylight & Agnihotra: sunrise–sunset today [sunrise tomorrow], ⁺ = current GPS | Solstice/Equinox (days until then) | ² Apparent Moon size due to distance, ↑/↓ = trend | Full and new moon: point in time (in days / days ago) | Lunar night: see below | Brightness: current brightness (min-max), 0% = perception threshold | ³ Calculated with JPL ephemerides (almanac accuracy) | ⁴ Weather: daily progression (... sun/clarity, ... expected rainfall plus max. where applicable, clickable = radar, ... gusts). ◵ = older data. Display limited to 48h for reliability | Below, daily values: min...max...[night min] (χ = snow); rainfall amount, sunshine duration; wind speed | Below: weather analysis for the next few days, plus symbols for 6 days (expandable)
–– Info:
Lunar night works like our date, but with nights: Μx·y (p/z) with x = lunar ‘month’ of the year, y = night of the lunar month. p marks the full-moon night, z the new-moon night and at the same time the end of the lunar month. A section at the year boundary without a full moon is denoted by ...·y (p/z). The night ends at sunrise. Μ1 is the first full moon in the year of light (see Chinese New Year).
The light season divides the year into 4+4 characteristic phases of increasing and decreasing light (with the traditional turning points at their midpoints): 1. Waxing (...), 2a. Arrival in light (...), 2b. Light repose (...), 2c. Departure from light (...), 3. Waning (...), 4a. Arrival in darkness (...), 4b. Dark repose (...) and 4c. Departure from darkness (...). Short form: Ϟx·y (x = phase, y = % progress). Data are calculated every year.
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