Telling the time by Moonlight
The general belief that sundials can only tell the time by day is simply not true.
Leading dialist David Harber's new Moon Dial is the latest in a distinguished tradition of sundials that allow the time to be told by the light of the moon.
The Moon Dial, a shimmering silver orb, can tell the time on the night of a full moon, and also on the three or four days before and after as the moon waxes and wanes. On other nights, the moon does not cast enough light.
“My reason for making the Moon Dial is that it is very, very romantic” explains Harber. “It tells the time by moonlight, and reflects the moon, the stars and the garden at night off its mirror-polished surface.”
The moon sundial can tell the time at night for as long as a week thanks to nine different timescales that are delicately etched in a beautiful lattice work of lines onto its stainless steel surface.
The nine timescales are needed because the shadow cast by the moon moves every night - by 54 minutes - as the moon orbits speedily round the earth.
During the day, the Moon Dial tells the time by moving an elegant crescent shaped gnomon.
The Moon Dial is a contemporary take on a classical 16th century French sundial design. It can be personalised to celebrate an important occasion, or engraved with a romantic moon related motto.
David Harber will launch the unusual moon sundial at the 2009 RHS Chelsea Flower Show.
Seventy centimetres in diameter, the stainless steel orb has a wonderful reflective quality which mirrors both the starlit heavens and its immediate earthly surroundings.
More about the Moon Dial » | More garden sundials »
