Just when you thought you’ve seen every strange variation of clock there is to see, we find one based on an Arduino that tracks the phases of the moon.

The “Lunar Phase Clock” is a project that popped up on hackster.io from user “G4lile0“. The project’s main attratcion is a 3D printed facsimile of the moon, which is lit up in parts thanks to a segmented LED array. As each segment lights up, it simulates the moon moving into a new phase.

The LEDs are key here, with six different strips of lights giving the effect of the moon gradually getting bigger and then smaller. We’re no expert on the matter, but it looks good in practice.

Aside from displaying lunar phases, the clock also has a relaxing lamp mode as well as a multicoloured “party” mode.

Below the 3D print of the moon the clock shows more traditional data thanks to a 0,96” OLED screen. It not only displays date and time, but also air moisture if you need to know of such things.

G4lile0 has been kind enough to write up a full tutorial on the project which you can pore over if you want to replicate it or see the more intricate details. It also includes the files to 3D print the moon face as well as the required code to run the Arduino.