sign, the sun's current location on the ecliptic. The intersection point slowly moves around the ecliptic dial during the year, as the Sun moves out of one astrological sign into another. In the diagram showing the clock face on the right, the Sun's disk has recently moved into Aries (the stylized ram's horns), having left Pisces. The date is therefore late March or early April. If the zodiac signs run around inside the hour hands, either this ring rotates to align itself with the hour hand, or there's another hand, revolving once per year, which points to the Sun's current zodiac sign. Moon A dial or ring indicating the numbers 1 to 29 or 30 indicates the moon's age: a new moon is 0, waxes become full around day 15, and then wanes up to 29 or 30. The phase is sometimes shown by a rotating globe or black hemisphere, or a window that reveals part of a wavy black shape beneath. Hour lines Unequal hours were the result of dividing up the period of daylight into 12 equal hours and nighttime into another 12. In Europe, there is more daylight in the summer, and less night, so each of the 12 daylight hours is longer than a night hour. Similarly in winter, daylight hours are shorter, and night hours are longer. These unequal hours are shown by the curved lines radiating from the center. The longer daylight hours in summer can usually be seen at the outer edge of the dial, and the time in unequal hours is read by noting the intersection of the sun hand with the appropriate curved line. Aspects Astrologers placed importance on how the Sun, Moon, and planets were arranged and aligned in the sky. If certain planets appeared at the points of a triangle, hexagon, or square, or if they were opposite or next to each other, the appropriate aspect was used to determine the event's significance. On some clocks you can see the common aspects – triangle, square, and hexagon – drawn inside the central disc, with each line marked by the symbol for that aspect, and you may also see the signs for conjunction and opposition. On an astrolabe, the corners of the different aspects could be lined up on any of the planets. On a clock, though, the disc containing the aspect lines can't be rotated at will, so they