The Sun Project

Welcome to The Sun Project!

Hi!

We’re very excited to announce what we think could be one of the largest and most interesting global citizen science/art projects ever. We hope you’ll join us.

We’ll have more details in the coming days, but here’s a brief introduction:

What is it?

We want to assemble the largest gallery of Solargraphs ever attempted. These are super-long-exposure pictures, usually months at a time, made with a pinhole camera onto photosensitive paper. The finished product is simply beautiful, a mix of sun tracks and ghostly surroundings:

Okay, so what’s “The Sun Project”?

We know that from summer to winter, the path of the Sun moves from high to low in the sky as we approach the colder months. In the Northern Hemisphere, the Sun reaches its highest point at the summer solstice (June 21) and its lowest at the winter solstice (Dec. 21). We want YOU to capture the path of the Sun from where you live! It doesn’t matter if you live in the Northern or Southern Hemisphere.

Building a pinhole solar camera is easy and cheap, and we’ll show you the whole process. You can do it in one evening. We’ll be doing our own here in Austin, TX and can’t wait to share with you, too!

Sounds fun! What do I do?

First, make sure you follow or bookmark us. We’re also on Twitter @SunProject2012. Next, get ready to build your solargraphy pinhole camera! We will have a video up in the next day or so showing you how it’s done, step-by-step (it’s super-simple). Recruit a team of friends, make it a class project, or put it together on your own. But keep in mind you’ll mount your cameras on June 21!

Finally, help us spread the word. We really want to see results from around the world. Not only will you learn more about astronomy and how the dynamics of the Sun affect the seasons, you’ll be part of a beautiful art project!

(photo above via medevac71 on Flickr)