The Anthem Veterans Memorial (AVM) in Anthem, Arizona, is a memorial to the people who served in the U.S. military and gave their lives for their country. It’s “incomplete,” though, 364 days a year. To get the most out of it, you have to be there at a certain time. And sun.
At precisely 11:11 a.m. [PT] each Veterans Day (Nov. 11), the sun’s rays pass through the ellipses of the five Armed Services pillars to form a perfect solar spotlight over a mosaic of The Great Seal of the United States,
the city’s community council writes.
The five pillars represent the unity of the five branches of the United States military serving steadfast together.
These are the United States Army, the United States Marine Corps, the United States Navy, the United States Air Force, and the United States Coast Guard.
They are staggered in size with their appropriate military seal placements on each pillar based upon the Department of Defense prescribed precedence.
When building this monument, a lot of thought went into it.
Each year, the center of the sun is slightly offset from other years by just a few horizontal or vertical arc-seconds relative to the timing of the required azimuth/altitude position of the sun,
AVM chief engineer Jim Martin explained.
Using the statistical mean of the 100-year data, the altitude and azimuth angles for the structure were adjusted to provide time/error fluctuation of plus or minus 12 time seconds from the International Atomic Time mark of 11:11:11 a.m. <…> we also checked the variance 500 years out, and if the structure is still standing, it will work.
Arizona’s Anthem Veterans Memorial is “incomplete” 364 days a year.
But at exactly 11:11 a.m. on Veterans Day (Nov. 11), the sun’s rays shine through the pillars and light up The Great Seal of the United States.
The five pillars are a symbol of how the five branches of the U.S. military work together as one.
The Department of Defense has established an order for the placement of the military seals on each pillar, and they are different sizes.
This monument was built after a lot of thought.
Using data from the past 100 years, the structure’s altitude and azimuth angles were changed to give a time/error fluctuation of plus or minus 12 seconds.
“We also checked the variance 500 years out, and if the structure is still standing, it will work”
