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The dial was designed with the aid of a computer program by David Potter, a science teacher at Kent Denver. The program solves Kepler’s Laws to determine the location of the earth in its orbit, and then determines the altitude and azimuth angle of the sun at the observer’s latitude and longitude on the particular date and time. It then calculates the location of the projection of the rays on the vestibule walls. The dial was designed from scratch.
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The entrance tower was designed by architect Paul Hutton as a "Sun Tower". He proportioned the tower so the sun's rays would fall at the bottom of the wall at solar noon on the summer solstice and at the top of the wall at solar noon on the winter solstice.
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The ceiling is decorated with a compass rose and the school's icon.
Sunlight enters through a 1/8" pinhole aperture at the center of the vestibule's conical roof (Sol's left eye).
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Hourly analemmas are marked on the vertical walls.
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The sun's rays reach the bottom of the wall at solar noon on the summer solstice.
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Photo taken at 1:00 March 24th |
Analemmas are marked with hemispherical bronze and nickel high dome decorative nails, one for each day of the year. Nickel is used for winter and spring; bronze is used for summer and autumn. Larger markers are provided for the first of each month. Brass tubing marks the sun path for the summer solstice and the equinox. In addition, embedded aluminum extrusions mark the sun's azimuth in 15 degree increments, and the sun's elevation in 10 degree increments. A digital atomic clock repeater is located on the south wall to facilitate checking the solar clock's accuracy |