When everything lines up… just… right….

As you know, the Summer Solstice was a few days ago. Our days in the Northern Hemisphere are now once again decreasing.

On Astronomy Pic of the Day there is a pic for your Just Too Cool file.

Explanation:

What time is it? If the time and day are right, this sundial will tell you: SOLSTICE. Only then will the Sun be located just right for sunlight to stream through openings and spell out the term for the longest and shortest days of the year. And that happened last week and twice each year. The sundial was constructed by Jean Salins in 1980 and is situated at the Ecole Supérieure des Mines de Paris in Valbonne Sophia Antipolis of south-eastern France. On two other days of the year, watchers of this sundial might get to see it produce another word: EQUINOXE.

About Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

Fr. Z is the guy who runs this blog. o{]:¬)
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10 Comments

  1. Laura98 says:

    That’s really cool! The rest of the year, I’d probably wonder what the heck all that metal was for, but for those 4 days – That’s Awesome! :D

  2. Dismas says:

    Very cool, the only thing that could make this more fun is if it spelled TEOTWAWKI on Friday, December 21, 2012.

  3. Andrew says:

    Is apparatus solstitium indicat aestivum; sed quid de solstitio hiemale quod fit mense Decembri cum sol tropicum attingit capricorni? Oh well! Nobody’s perfect. At least he could have spelled “solstitium” right.

  4. Andrew says:

    You see, Fr. Z, there’s nothing you can post here that some of us will not find a way to criticize.

  5. Josephus Muris Saliensis says:

    Now this …

    IS COOL!

  6. AnAmericanMother says:

    VERY clever! I like it very much.
    Makes adjusting your roof overhang to the latitude for a passive solar house look like child’s play.

  7. disco says:

    Now if only we could keep the Rembert Weaklands of the world from erecting such structures inside our churches…

  8. ocalatrad says:

    I heard something quite fascinating this past week about the solstices. The Church placed the Feast of St. John the Baptist around the summer solstice because from then on, the days grow shorter and shorter, just as St. John the Baptist said “I must decrease and He must increase”. Conversely, Christmas falls around the winter solstice because from then on, the days grow longer with the arrival of the Light of the World. :)

  9. Tina in Ashburn says:

    oooh How I would love something like that in my garden. Okay a mite smaller. That is TOO COOL.

  10. irishgirl says:

    Oh my goodness, that IS TOO COOL!
    If I was the gardener type (I now live in an apartment), that would be an awesome addition!

Comments are closed.