The EarthDial Project - FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial Team is comprised of four members: John Avellone, amateur telescope maker and member, Northern Virginia Astronomy Club (NOVAC); Lee Ann Hennig, Planetarium Teacher, Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology (TJHSST); Gary Purinton, Planetarium Teacher, Falls Church High School; and Walter Sanford, Planetarium Teacher, Carl Sandburg Middle School. Credits: Mr. Avellone, Design & Construction Manager; Ms. Hennig, Site Manager; Mr. Purinton, Webcam32 Software Manager; and Mr. Sanford, Project Coordinator & Webmaster/Curator. Special thanks to Phillip Wherry, Technical Consultant. Web camera provided by Sandburg Middle School; Webcam32 software provided by Falls Church High School; Web hosting provided by "Sanford Instructional Technology."

1/2-size | full-size | info The FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial, constructed by John Avellone (a work-in-progress).	1/2-size | full-size | info John Avellone (shown left) & Walter Sanford (shown right) checking the time...
1/2-size | full-size | info ...of Sun transit on Friday, 16 JAN 2004.	1/2-size | full-size | info Sun transit occured at ~12:18 p.m. EST.
1/2-size | full-size | info Setting the sundial by marking a true north-south line...	1/2-size | full-size | info ...on the TJHSST Planetarium observation deck.
1/2-size | full-size | info Testing the video camera.	The FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial is a horizontal sundial with a vertical gnomon, designed to resemble the MarsDials located on-board NASA's twin Mars Exploration Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity. [Typically, horizontal sundials have a triangle-shaped gnomon.] A Garmin GPS 40 was used to determine the exact location of the FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial. The sundial was set by using the time of Sun transit (12 noon Local Apparent Time) to align the sundial's meridian line (noon hour line) with a true geographic north-south line. To ensure proper alignment of the sundial, time checks were performed periodically on two different days. The FCPS/NOVAC EarthDial Webcam is a generic composite video camera that is connected to a Hewlett-Packard Vectra PC equipped with an ATI All-in-Wonder video card. Webcam32 webcam software is used to capture live still-video images (every 10 minutes on the 10s) that are webcast on the ED-7 Webcam home page.