24 clocks, one sky
Watch the Earth turn beneath the Sun, seen from space as a globe or from above either pole. The Sun stays fixed and the planet turns beneath it. Around the edge are twenty-four Sidereal Clocks, one on each time-zone meridian. As each clock turns into the night and reaches its midnight, its sky hand points to the month. Replay 31 March 2026 to watch every hand point straight up, one after another, all the way round the world.
The Earth from space. The dusk line sweeps in from the left and the gold arc marks midnight: each clock strikes its own midnight as the arc crosses it, and on 31 March 2026 every Crux hand reads exactly zero at that moment. Clocks over the edge of the Earth fade until it turns them back into view.
Both poles at once: the same Earth, the same moment, turning clockwise beneath the Southern Cross and anticlockwise beneath Polaris.
The Earth as a clock face, seen from above one pole, with the Sun held at the top and midnight at the bottom.
The world laid flat. The night shadow and the gold midnight line sweep west across the map, and each clock strikes its own midnight as the line passes beneath it, reading exactly zero on 31 March 2026.
Seen from space
On the globe the dusk line sweeps across from the left and the gold arc marks midnight. Each clock rides its own place on the Earth, crossing midnight as its hand stands at zero. Southern clocks turn clockwise like the Crux; northern ones turn the other way, mirrored like the Northern face.
Two poles, one spin
From above Antarctica the Earth turns clockwise, the same way the Southern Cross wheels through the southern sky. Turn to the Arctic and the very same spin runs anticlockwise, as the stars do around Polaris. The clocks mirror too.
The Earth is the clockwork
Nothing drives these hands except the planet itself. One turn beneath the Sun is a day; one turn beneath the stars is a sidereal day, 23 h 56 m 4 s. The Crux hand keeps the second kind.
A relay of zeros
Press Replay 31 March 2026. At midnight ending 31 March, every Crux hand reads exactly zero as its clock passes midnight: first Fiji, then New Caledonia, then Cumnock in New South Wales, and on round the world to Alaska 23 hours later.
The hand is a calendar
Run it at 1 h/s for a few days. Each midnight the hand stands about ten seconds further on along the minute track, about one degree. Over a month that is one number on the face, which is why a month sits in every five-minute space.
The 24 midnight-zero meridians
Listed in the order midnight reaches them. Latitude never moves the hand, so each place is a real spot on its meridian. Your zone is highlighted.
| Zone | Meridian | Latitude | Place on the meridian | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UTC+12 | 178.7214° E | 17.70° S | Off Ovalau, Fiji | At sea, ~1.7 km off the west coast of Ovalau. |
| UTC+11 | 163.6804° E | 19.70° S | Belep Islands, New Caledonia | |
| UTC+10 | 148.6393° E | 33.00° S | Cumnock, New South Wales | Reference anchor: Parkes Observatory latitude, 35 km due east of the dish. |
| UTC+9 | 133.5982° E | 34.58° N | Okayama Astrophysical Observatory, Japan | The observatory dome is ~350 m west of the meridian. |
| UTC+8 | 118.5572° E | 32.07° N | Nanjing (Pukou), China | |
| UTC+7 | 103.5161° E | 13.41° N | Siem Reap Province, Cambodia | |
| UTC+6 | 88.4750° E | 24.37° N | Paba, Rajshahi, Bangladesh | |
| UTC+5 | 73.4340° E | 33.90° N | Murree, Pakistan | |
| UTC+4 | 58.3929° E | 23.59° N | Muscat (Bawshar), Oman | |
| UTC+3 | 43.3518° E | 43.49° N | Nizhny Chegem, Kabardino-Balkaria, Russia | |
| UTC+2 | 28.3108° E | 25.75° S | Pretoria (Mamelodi), South Africa | |
| UTC+1 | 13.2697° E | 52.52° N | Berlin (Charlottenburg), Germany | |
| UTC+0 | 1.7714° W | 51.17° N | Amesbury, Wiltshire (by Stonehenge) | |
| UTC−1 | 16.8125° W | 28.30° N | Santiago del Teide, Tenerife | No UTC-1 land on this meridian; the Canaries keep UTC+0. |
| UTC−2 | 31.8535° W | 72.58° N | Greenland ice sheet | |
| UTC−3 | 46.8946° W | 23.19° S | Jundiai, Sao Paulo, Brazil | |
| UTC−4 | 61.9357° W | 16.24° S | Concepcion, Santa Cruz, Bolivia | |
| UTC−5 | 76.9767° W | 38.90° N | Washington, D.C. | |
| UTC−6 | 92.0178° W | 30.22° N | Lafayette, Louisiana | |
| UTC−7 | 107.0589° W | 38.55° N | Gunnison County, Colorado | |
| UTC−8 | 122.0999° W | 37.39° N | Mountain View, California | |
| UTC−9 | 137.1410° W | 58.66° N | Mount Crillon, Fairweather Range, Alaska | |
| UTC−10 | 152.1821° W | 16.44° S | Off Maupiti, French Polynesia | At sea, ~5 km east of Maupiti reef. |
| UTC−11 | 167.2231° W | 53.60° N | Unalaska Island, Alaska | No UTC-11 land on this meridian; Alaska keeps UTC-9. |