Star Axis

Star Axis is an earthwork built to observe the stars.  

 

Created by artist Charles Ross, all of Star Axis’ shapes and angles are determined by earth-to-star alignments built into the architecture so they can be experienced in physical form and human scale. 

 

Ross’ artwork involves light, time, and planetary motion. Star Axis, his largest project, was conceived in 1971. After a four-year search throughout the southwest, Ross broke ground in 1976. Built with earth, granite, sandstone, stainless steel, and bronze, Star Axis is 11 stories high and 1/10th mile across.

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Star Axis has five main elements. The Star Tunnel is precisely aligned with Earth's axis. Here the viewer can walk through layers of celestial time, making visible the 26,000-year cycle of precession, Earth's shifting alignment with the stars. The Solar Pyramid marks the daily and seasonal movements; its collected shadows over the course of a year drawi the shape of the Shadow Field. From inside the Hour Chamber you can view one hour of Earth's rotation, and from inside the Equatorial Chamber you can observe the stars that travel directly above the equator.

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     “I realized I had to build Star Axis when I discovered that Polaris pulses in the human visual field—

from a circle smaller than a dime held at arms length at present, to a circle that encompasses our entire field of vision 13,000 years from now.

It wasn’t enough to just know about this. I wanted to walk through it.” 

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STAR AXIS DOCUMENTARY FILM (6 minutes)

Special thanks to the Gale Family Foundation for making this film possible.

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