One of the five Platonic bodies, the dodecahedron, consists of twelve regular pentagons.
A dodecahedron, placed on a horizontal plane, leaves eleven faces on which to draw a sundial.
Such a multiple sundial was recently realised in metal.
The edges of each pentagon in this dodecahedron measure 10.6 cm (4”).
A temporary arrangement is shown below.
The dodecahedron is built from 12 separate sheets. Invisible pins and slots join them.
Extra inside corner brackets add stiffness.
The construction is quite robust, and all faces are joined very precisely, proof of the maker’s great skill.
Below are more details of this splendid piece of work.
The south sundial with equation-of-time loops.
The North West face reading
"hours until sunset".
There is much to be read on this sundial, such as:
- Apparent solar time
- Civil time
- Italian hours, or hours until sunset
- Babylonian hours, of hours since sunrise
- Altitude of the sun
- Azimuth or direction of the sun.