sun dial
Ancient time teller
A sundial is a device that tells time by the position of the sun's shadow on a marked surface.
A raised piece called a gnomon casts a shadow onto numbered hour lines as the sun moves across the sky.
Sundials predate mechanical clocks by millennia and now appear mainly as garden ornaments.
Usually written as one word: sundial.
- gnomonSundial's shadow-casting projection
- cast shadowProject darkness by blocking light
- shadowLight blocked by object
- timeMeasured passage of moments
- high noonSolar zenith, or confrontation
telling time · noon · ancient · old world · garden · garden ornament · pedestal · hours · solar · clockface · meridian · true north · obelisk · Roman · brass · stone · latitude · equinox
- astronomical clocksstar wheel, orrery, celestial sphere, solar time, lunar calendar
- ancient calendarsMayan calendar, Aztec calendar, lunar calendar, solar calendar, Long Count
- navigationcompass, compass rose, signs, charts, navbar
timekeeping technology
sun dialdigital clock
Timekeeper showing numerals
atomic clock · mechanical clock · quartz watch · smartwatch · grandfather clock