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Old December 7th 17, 05:39 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Mikko
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Default The Equation of Time(keeping)

In article ,
Quadibloc wrote:

On Sunday, November 19, 2017 at 3:34:04 AM UTC-7, Mikko wrote:

Sand and water clocks are too inaccurate to detect the variation in
duration from one noon to the next.


That may be, but using an atomic clock instead would involve the exact same
principle, so it doesn't affect his point. He just chose to use a...
traditional... example of a mechanical clock, perhaps in reaction to what he
may
feel to be a recent trend towards glorifying technology.

John Savard


That's right. However, for those who want to understand history it is
important to understand that before pendulum clocks there was no
mechanical clock that could measure the variation in the length of solar
day, so astronomers had to be determine the equation of time by other
means -- most people where quite happy with solar time.

Mikkl