HelioTrak Sundial

The HelioTrak sundial is a model showing the Sun's path through the sky  over your house. Tilt the solar cage to your latitude and turn the sundial until it points north. Point to the spot on the cage that casts a shadow on the plate center. Read off the time and date from the solar tracking cage. You can see the sunrise and sunset times on the east and west sides of the sundial. 

You can use the sundial "in reverse" to find your latitude and longitude, given the current time and date.

If you're on the Equator, and the cage is oriented vertically.  Throughout the whole year, sunrise is at 6 AM and sunset is at 6 PM.

In the Southern Hemisphere, the cage is tilted the other way. The June solar path is short and low, and the December solar path is long and high, so the seasons are reversed.

At the North Pole, the cage is oriented horizontally. In June, the Sun makes a circular path in the sky, 24 hours for a full loop. At the equinox, the it skims right along the horizon, and for 6 months of the year, it is below the horizon.

For more information, go to the website, http://heliotrak.com