Botanical Gardens , Christchurch, New Zealand

The gnomon is the part of a sundial which casts the sun's shadow onto the dial plate, which is inscribed with the hourlines. In most sundials, the gnomon consists of a rod, or the side of a triangle, running parallel to the Earth's axis and pointing to the celestial pole.

A vertical sundial , as the name implies, has its dial mounted vertically, usually on the wall of a building. in distinction to a horizontal dial which has its dial plate placed horizontally, either on the ground or on a pedestal.



	Region	Town	Location	Latitude	Longitude
New Zealand	Canterbury	Canterbury	Botanic Gardens	43° 45' S	171° 19' E

Antipodean Sundial

This photograph was kindly sent to me by Susan Welchly of Nashville, Tennessee. The picture was taken in the Botanical Gardens in Christchurch, New Zealand (43 degrees South 173 degrees East).

The interesting thing for me, living in the northern hemisphere, is that for a horizontal dial like this in the southern hemisphere the hour lines are engraved anti-clockwise around the dial, whereas here in the northern hemisphere they are positioned clockwise. Susan's photo was taken at about 10.30 a.m.

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