The stairs of the Star Tunnel emerge above the mesa through a 52-foot granite pyramid whose angles are determined by the summer and winter solstices.

As the shadow of the Solar Pyramid expands and contracts with the seasons, it defines a bow-shaped field. This Shadow Field is an artifact of precession mapped in solar time.

Inside the Solar Pyramid the Hour Chamber offers a view of one hour of star rotation framed in the north sky.

 

Solar pyramid: marks the daily and seasonal movements of the sun across the shadow field.

Shadow field: shaped by all of the shadows drawn by the Solar pyramid.