from web site
On the traveller's sundial revealed above, it is the inner ring. This ring is often inscribed with the months on one side and matching zodiac indications on the exterior; very comparable to an astrolabe. Others have actually been discovered to be inscribed with two twelve-hour time scales. Each twelve-hour scale is extended over 180 degrees and numbered by hour with hashes every 20 minutes and smaller hashes every 4 minutes.
On these, the exterior of the ring is engraved with the matching symbols of the zodiac signs. The position of the sign shows the date of the entry of the sun into this specific indication. The vernal equinox is marked at March 15 and the autumnal equinox is marked at September 10.
The declination ring is moveable, and turns on pivots set in the meridian ring. A fictional line connecting these pivots is parallel to the Earth's axis. The declination "ring" of the traveller's sundial above is not a ring at all, but an elongate loop with a slider for setting the season.
It can be used to measure declination. This ring is also typically marked with the zodiac indications and twenty-five stars, comparable to the astrolabe. View Details [edit]" Annulus Astronomicus". Recovered 2009-07-18. Sorgeloos, Claude (2001 ). " Un post-incunable retrouv: L'Usus annuli astronomici de Gemma Frisius, Louvain et Anvers, 1534" [A post-incunabula discovery: 'Making use of astronomical rings' by Gemma Frisius]
Leiden. 31 (4 ): 255264. doi:10. 1163/157006901X00155. ISSN 0014-9527. Obtained 2009-07-19. Wallis, Helen (1984 ). "England's Browse for the Northern Passages in the Sixteenth and Early Seventeenth Centuries". Arctic. 37 (4 ): 453472. doi:10. 14430/arctic2228. JSTOR 40510308. May, William Edward, A History of Marine Navigation, G. T. Foulis & Co. Ltd., Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, 1973, Recovered 2013-11-10 " Mid 18th Century Brass Huge ring dial.
" Huge dial; ring-dial; sundial British Museum". Archived from the original on 2013-11-12. Bibliography [modify]
What if you could wear the whole universe on your finger? Huge rings, also called Gemma's rings, are an early huge instrument. The instrument consists of 3 rings, each representing the celestial equator, declination, and the meridian. Our rings are thoroughly hand-carved in sterling silver. When it closed, it represents everlasting love, when it opened, it stands for the entire world.