The Solar Eye is a calendar sculpture that (in the Tropics) marks eight important dates of the Earth's travel around the sun: Equinoxes, Solstices, and the days of Zenith and Nadir passages of the sun.

Using the light of the full moon it is possible to observe the approach of the eclipse season. When the shadow of the full moon at night (on one eye) is at the same radius as the sun's shadow during the day (on the opposite eye), a lunar eclipse occurs.

As a Solar Calendar:

During the equinoxes, the sun shines through the equatorial plane that cuts the sculpture in two halves. No light shines on the north and south-facing sides, the "eyes" of the sculpture. The shadows form an "eyelid" that is closed during the equinoxes.

As we approach the Summer solstice the north-looking eye starts to open. When the eyelid made by the shadow touches the edge of the pupil, it will be the first passage of the sun through the Zenith.

The eyelid will open more every day and it will be completely open on the Summer Solstice.

As the days pass, the eyelid will close again, and it will touch the edge of the pupil on the second passage of the sun through the Zenith.

The north (and south) looking eyes will be completely closed again on the Autumn Equinox.

As we approach the Winter Solstice, the south-looking eye starts to open. The eyelid shadow will touch the edge of the pupil on the first passage of the sun through the Nadir.

The south-looking eye will be completely open on the Winter Solstice.

Then it will begin to close again and the shadow will touch the edge of the pupil on the second passage of the sun through the Nadir.

The eyes will be closed again on the Spring Equinox. And the process repeats.

The shape of the sculpture depends on the latitude where it will be placed. The present model was made for 15 degrees north latitude, where the Zenith (and Nadir) passages of the sun are separated by 260 days approximately, which is the length of the Tzolkin Mayan Sacred Calendar.

Eclipse Prediction:

The distance from the center of the eye to the border of the shadow cast by the sun or full moon corresponds to declination in equatorial celestial coordinates.

Noting the difference in declination of the sun's shadow and the full moon's shadow it is possible to observe the approach of the moon to one of the two nodes, the place where the moon's orbit around the Earth crosses the plane of the Earth's orbit around the sun.

During a lunar eclipse, the declination of the moon's shadow (at night) is the same as the declination of the sun's shadow during the same day.

Designed by Dromakat MMXII (Mayan Long Count 13.0.0.0.0) for Kajulew (Sky-Earth) Foundation: To nourish our connection to the Sky.

The Mayan name of the sculpture is Kabawil (Double Sight) and represents the complementary nature of opposites, essential in the Mayan conception of the Cosmos.