Sundial of the month February
Sundial and Lunar Eclipse
Inhabitants of the mountain village of Roufach in Alsace, France got quite a scare when in the evening of 16 August 1617 a blood red moon appeared in the eastern sky above the mountains. A slight panic broke out among residents who thought the world would perish.
Luckily, the moon soon returned to her usual appearance, and Roufach exists even today.
The cause of the blood red moonrise was a total lunar eclipse that had started before the moon rose above the mountains.
To reassure the village population, a sundial was built, decorated with an image explaining the lunar eclipse. Piece was restored.
This, in short, is the story that René R.J. Rohr related during a visit to this sundial in 1980.
By the late 1970s, the sundial pattern had become only barely visible, and René Rohr made an extensive study of the dial.
He checked occurrences of lunar eclipses, and verified the total eclipse of 16 August 1617, lending a measure of credibility to the story.
Details of solar and lunar eclipses are now easily found on internet.
Following Rohr’s study, the sundial was thoroughly restored in 1979.