Spherical dials
Private garden, Enschede
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Isn't it cute? Sky-blue with silver stars and a silver hour ring, additional equatorial dials at the poles, and a jolly little horse on top. The horse looks like a wind vane, but it lacks a swivel.
The tail of the arrow at the south pole is missing, unfortunately. The dial sits loose on top of the column, so it gets easily disoriented by playing children.
In this type of sundial, the time is indicated by the edge of the shadow. The sphere thus is its own gnomon; there is no rotating device that has to be aimed at the sun, as is the case at Verhildersum Manor.
The time is read from the hour ring, which is in the equatorial plane. Twelve o'clock marks are at the east and at the west side, and 6 o'clock is in the meridian. The shadow crosses the ring at two points, and the time can be read at both. The edge of the shadow is not very sharp, of course, and the accuracy of the reading is accordingly.
Terrella means "little earth'. A very interesting option is to use a real terrestrial globe. Your own location is right on top. And you can see where it's daytime and nighttime right now, and which people experience dawn and dusk.
Location: 52.2° N, 7.0° E
Nearby sundials at my website: