ARCHITECTURE OF THE SUN: AN EARLY OUTLINE, AND A QUICK LOOK

Ever since I completed my dissertation and knew managing a book scale document was feasible for me, I like keeping a prospective book topic. For a while I was working on one called Architecture of a New State. About architecture in Arizona around the time (just before and after) it became a US state. I got pretty far along in that one, but put it on hold for several reasons. Now I am working on Architecture of the Sun, and see it might be of much more than local significance, perhaps universal significance. Overwhelming but important. There is some Arizona in there for sure but the for now it is much more encompassing. Here is my outline from June 21, 2025:

Architecture of the Sun Science of the Sun Solar systems Solar time keeping Sunlight and optics Heat and energy: accepting and avoiding rays Landscapes of the Sun Desertification The Sun and water Architectural Derivations from the Sun Radial solar cities Sun temples Housing Sun gods, Sun kings Sun religion, Sun governance Modernity and the Sun Solar equipment: astrolabe, sundial, sextant, armillary sphere. Solar orientation: sun paths and charts Solar materials: sun dried earth, daylight catching, solar energy catching

A few years ago I found a half dozen or more high quality astronomy books at a second hand bookstore in Mesa, Arizona. Felt like an unlikely find, but these were all from top academic publishers, and I read them. They were all published over fifteen years ago and all warned severely about looking at the sun, ESPECIALLY NEVER TO LOOK AT THE SUN THROUGH A TELESCOPE.

Years and filters and scientific advancements later, I did just that. I visited the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff on 7 10 2025 and took several looks through a solar telescope. Apparently advancements have made it possible through specially filtered instruments, and I was eager to see.

The perimeter is the area I found most interesting. There are enormous flares or “prominences” that I tried to capture with my camera applied to the view finder. See below.

As a current resident of the Sonoran Desert, the sun is ever-present and inescapable. If I stay here I need to adapt myself, my lifestyle, my environment. We all do. I would rather not live in an Anthropocene, but more naturally in more of a Heliopocene.