working out prayer times using the sun.

[Ummu Sufyaan]

i hope this isnt a dense question, but we have discovered some inconsistencies in our prayer timetables where we find that the hours which the prayers are meant to start/end dont correspond to the suns movements.

so on the timetable it says asr is about at 3.00pm. according to the sun, its about at 2.00pm. at asr time, the sahodw of an object is meant to be equal to the length of that object. for example a vase of 30cm long and likewise its shadow is also 30cm in length. as the day gets longer, the shadow of the object gets longer (or so i've been told). i've been told that i can pray since the shadow is longer then the object....

but im confused and something isn't clicking. if the shadow of the object gets longer as the day goes on...well what about after sunrise (even before dhuhr)...isn't the shadow of an object also longer then the object? because i was out at 10.00am a couple of days back and realized that the shadow of the object is longer than the object. and this was before dhuhr?

so can someone understand this concept to me:?

 

[Life Artist]

in fact we did study it in school many times, but relaying on athan.. almost forgot it all.
Allah helps us all!

 

[Darth Ultor]

In countries like the US, we can't rely on Adhan, but on a certain schedule.

 

[Life Artist]

I know, I'd been in such a situation for years!
in home or office you can use a program like "Islamic finder" for your PC.