Illuatrating the operation of a sundial

[Ant hill]

Does anyone have a suggestion of a planet that rapidly orbits a star such that it could usefully illustrate the option of a sundial to a child? Near the Bubble/ Pleiades ideally. I'm not even sure how possible this is.

 

[Romeo India Charlie]

You can try the Miterrand Hollow. It's a moon tidally locked on a 96 second orbit. If you land with the main star on your back and the moon between the planet and the star, you should get a sundial effect every 40ish seconds or so. Check this video I did about it:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iiQxVnxG-HQ

 

[Orvidius]

Mitterand Hollow is definitely worth a try. Otherwise you might need to do a time lapse somewhere. There are fast orbits and rotational periods out there, but that can still usually mean hours or more.

 

[Ant hill]

Check this video I did about it:

Nice video. When I was there I didn't perceive the sun move. I think I was distracted by the giant blue planet. Your video shows it. I will take another look and perhaps situate myself on the back of the planet. Flying over the planet surface was not easy though. Probably not my best Elite skill, but with the added frame of reference issues created by a giant moving planet, it was hard to land somewhere specific.

 

[Romeo India Charlie]

If you can see the planet, like it's the case of the video, you are on the wrong side. Miterrand Hollow is tidally locked, like our Moon. So you need to land on the "Dark Side" of Miterrand Hollow.

I wonder if lightning will work correctly though and the video doesn't help since I was close to the pole. Or if it needs some options tweaking. A good test would be to not land and be in a position where, with the camera, you can see the shadow of the ship. If it doesn't move at all, there's an issue.

 

[Ravenov]

You could try on a planet with a highly eccentric orbit, as it passes close to its star. Only trouble is being in the right place at that time, since the close approach will likely only last a few minutes. That and finding the right planet too, the world of death would be one option since it has such a short orbit, but it's not very close to the bubble. Bleae Air AA-A h33 B 1 is another one, but that has a 16.7 day orbit, so even harder to nail down when to be there (plus it's 15 Kly from the bubble...).