telling time by the sun

Hendo

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Okay, I'd say it's more "estimating" the time by the position of the sun. Anyway... is there a term for that? I'm looking for what to call it when someone can look at the sun and then make a reasonable guess as to what time it is and how many hours there are until sunset. Sort of like what you see in the survival shows where someone can count the hours based on the number of handwidths they see between the sun and the horizon.I've been trying to find it through google but I'm only getting a lot of stuff about sundials. Thanks for any help! :)
 
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neandermagnon

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There's not a term that I'd know of, but you'd have to know the time of year and the seasonal pattern for your latitude and which way's north before you could get an accurate of the time of day. How accurate do they need to be though? In a survival situation in the countryside you need to be very aware of the daily cycle (when night's going to fall, etc) but you don't need to know the exact time. If you're just looking for a word for this, then I wouldn't worry about it. Just describe your characters doing that. e.g. Jimmy held his hands up to the sun and counted two hand widths between the sun and the horizon. "We need to go now if we want to get back to camp before nightfall." (showing's better than telling for this kind of thing... if they do it a lot, you can just put it in dialogue... "six handwidths. We've got plenty of time." or similar.)

You can use shadows to follow the day's cycle (no need for a sundial but they're simple enough to build). You can determine the sun's angle in the sky by the shadow length. At the equator, if the shadow's a puddle at your feet it's noon. If it's the same length as the object it's mid morning or mid afternoon (halfway between sunrise and noon or halfway between noon and sunset. The direction of the shadow tells you if it's morning or afternoon (as long as you know the direction you're facing - and you can calibrate this by observing the sun over the course of the day). The further away from the equator you go the harder it is to do this because the position of the sun at sunrise, noon and sunset depends on the time of year, however if you know the seasonal patterns it can still be done. Stonehenge is thought to be a calendar/time measuring device, measuring the position of the sun at sunrise and sunset through the year.
 

lonestarlibrarian

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I haven't found a term, either, but it's good to be aware of the cycles of the sky as a writer. We've all seen movies where it's a full moon every night, or the moon's at the same spot in the sky at the same time of night, every night. Or we've read books where "midnight" is when the moon is at the highest point in the sky. It's like, "Do you not go outside?" :)

In reality, of course, the sun and the moon wobble all over the sky through the course of the seasons. Sometimes I look up and wonder, "Wow, when did that get way over there?!" Or if I visit a place 400 miles away, to the east and to the south, their sunrise/sunset is very different from my sunrise/sunset. So anyone can look up and get a good sense of local time, as in, "This long until sunset", but to try and pin it to a clock-time will require someone who's familiar with the location.
 

Thomas Vail

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If you just need a term, throw something together like 'heliochrony' or the like. "He was a talented heliochronist." ;)
 

ironmikezero

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I think I remember the hand extended at arm's length trick from an old boy scout manual; it was, quite surprisingly, pretty accurate. You're trying to gauge the sun's distance to the western horizon and estimate the time it'll take to get there.

Hand extended at arm's length and fingers bent at ninety degrees, parallel to the horizon, place the length of the little finger on the horizon where you estimate the sun will set. The stack of four fingers represents an hour (15 minutes per finger width) of the sun's passage. Using both hands, one atop the other, gives you two hours worth of reasonably accurate time estimation. Latitude doesn't make too much of a difference, until you get close to the polar regions of course. Bear in mind that this trick is relative to the individual, so a little practice will help you fine tune your estimation skills. Try it; you may be surprised how something so simple can work so well.

Have a little fun--it's free.
 
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Maryn

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I learn something at AW nearly every day but rarely something so practical. Thanks, ironmikezero!

We're especially aware of time being a construct when we watch baseball live. A game at Fenway can be in full darkness when I can still read outside, though I'm in the same time zone.

Maryn, never a boy scout, though at one time she scouted boys
 

Mark HJ

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In reality, of course, the sun and the moon wobble all over the sky through the course of the seasons. Sometimes I look up and wonder, "Wow, when did that get way over there?!" Or if I visit a place 400 miles away, to the east and to the south, their sunrise/sunset is very different from my sunrise/sunset. So anyone can look up and get a good sense of local time, as in, "This long until sunset", but to try and pin it to a clock-time will require someone who's familiar with the location.


And if you spend much time doing things driven by sun rise/set, not only do you have a rough idea of what time it is, but there is the sense of it changing with the seasons.

At this time of year (so, just after mid-summer here) the sun sets over the other side of the valley and, as you step out from putting the chickens to bed, it's over the roof of the house. By the time we hit the middle of winter, that sunset is partially lost behind the trees the far side of the road - not quite 90 degrees round from mid-summer, but not far off, getting to be south-west rather than north-west.

Following that change over the next few months gives the sense of summer giving way to autumn, and that feeling that the days are getting short once sunset is no longer visible over the house roof. In the spring it's different, more about stepping out into the field vaguely south-eastward and having sunrise right in my face early in the year, and shifting until it's almost north-east as mid-summer comes on.
 

WeaselFire

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I've been trying to find it through google but I'm only getting a lot of stuff about sundials.

That's because you're describing the function of a sundial. There is no specific term for it, though the phrase "Telling time by the sun" pretty much covers it.

Jeff