Free Astronomy Magazine March-April 2022

48 MARCH-APRIL 2022 ASTRO PUBLISHING 3D viewing on the screen, which increases the educational poten- tial of the software itself and opens the door to three-dimensional print- ing. Sundials are fascinating, and you can have fun simulating and animat- ing the shadow of the stylus on the dial on your screen, varying with the time of day or day of the year. This helps to under- stand the effects of the tilt of the Earth’s rota- tion axis and the eccen- tricity of the Earth’s orbit. In addition to drawings directly related to the sundials, the software also offers complete ephemeris for the year, calculated for a day or A bove, armillary corona with polar style. Top right, shepherd’s cylindrical dial. Opposite, multiple sundials on a cube (5 dials). translation into 17 languages. Its user manual, over 130 pages long, has been translated into seven languages and can be downloaded for free from the software website. Shadows has been around since 1997 and accessible online since its inception. It was awarded in 2005 the Julien Saget medal, assigned by the Société As- tronomique de France. The software has constantly evolved based on user requests, gradually enriching itself through to today, becoming an undisputed model for all ama- teur gnomonists. At the end of 2021, the new ver- sion 5.0 introduced animated