Patrick has been there. -- Joe

At the website link provided by Seth, they don't make it clear that the holes cored through the sides of the pipes/tunnels are supposed to represent the principal stars of the four referenced constellations. I've never read or heard why Nancy Holt selected those particular constellations, one of which (Columba) is neither a classical constellation nor visible from the northern hemisphere. Does anyone know? I have a set of unusual photos of the sun tunnels taken a few years back on December 20/21 when there also happened to occur a total lunar eclipse. Due to this unique geometry, I have photos of the rising full Moon through one pair of tunnels just after the sun had set through the other pair. And, at sunrise the following morning, the setting full Moon was visible in one pair while the sun was rising through the other pair. BTW, I don't recommend camping at the site in December (-20's). Kim -----Original Message----- From: utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:utah-astronomy-bounces+kimharch=cut.net@mailman.xmission.com] On Behalf Of Bill.Kennedy@fiserv.com Sent: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 3:28 PM To: utah-astronomy@mailman.xmission.com Subject: [Utah-astronomy] Fw: astronomical observation tunnels Howdy, I received this query out of the blue and thought maybe there would be a knowledgeable soul here who may be able to help this gentleman out. This is something I've never heard of. Thanks, Bill ----- Forwarded by Bill Kennedy/CTI on 05/30/2006 03:24 PM ----- johnnybike2k@comcast.net 05/27/2006 05:00 PM To bkennedy@cusa.com, <bkennedy@cusa.com> cc Subject astronomical observation tunnels Bill Kennedy, My name is John McConnell, I?m a teacher here in the Salt Lake Valley. I?m finishing up my Master?s degree, I need to create a Geosciences study/field trip for part of the project and was trying to find some info on the astronomical observation tunnels out east of the Great Salt Lake, in Box Elder County. I was hoping some one from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society might have some info on who put them there, what the holes are for and anything else that might make interesting reading on the tunnels. Thanks for your help. John _______________________________________________ Utah-Astronomy mailing list Utah-Astronomy@mailman.xmission.com http://mailman.xmission.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/utah-astronomy Visit the Photo Gallery: http://www.utahastronomy.com ______________________________________________________________________ This e-mail has been scanned by Cut.Net Managed Email Content Service, using Skeptic(tm) technology powered by MessageLabs. For more information on Cut.Nets Content Service, visit http://www.cut.net ______________________________________________________________________

Here's the page I put together to show folks how to get there. Note that the drive time from SLC is about 4 hours. Every time I've been there for a solstice sunset there's always been a car load or two of folks who thought they could get there faster and ended up arriving just after sunset. Also note that there are no trees, bushes or cover of any kind (read: be sure and use the public rest rooms in Montello before proceeding to Sun Tunnels. <grin>) http://utahastro.info/SUNTUNNELS.HTML Patrick Bill.Kennedy@fiserv.com wrote:

Howdy,

I received this query out of the blue and thought maybe there would be a knowledgeable soul here who may be able to help this gentleman out. This is something I've never heard of.

Thanks, Bill

----- Forwarded by Bill Kennedy/CTI on 05/30/2006 03:24 PM -----

johnnybike2k@comcast.net 05/27/2006 05:00 PM

To bkennedy@cusa.com, <bkennedy@cusa.com> cc

Subject astronomical observation tunnels

Bill Kennedy,

My name is John McConnell, I?m a teacher here in the Salt Lake Valley. I?m finishing up my Master?s degree, I need to create a Geosciences study/field trip for part of the project and was trying to find some info on the astronomical observation tunnels out east of the Great Salt Lake, in Box Elder County. I was hoping some one from the Salt Lake Astronomical Society might have some info on who put them there, what the holes are for and anything else that might make interesting reading on the tunnels.

Thanks for your help. John _______________________________________________

-- Patrick Wiggins NASA Solar System Ambassador to Utah & NE Nevada http://utahastro.info paw@wirelessbeehive.com 435.882.1209