Posted on 10/24/2024 6:22:21 PM PDT by george76
Stone pillars, moon’s 18.6-year cycle and ancient structures tell a story..
The major lunar standstill northern moonrise is visible between Chimney and Companion rocks once per month for a period of about 24 months, every 18.6 years..
To archaeo-astronomers, the stone pillars that give Chimney Rock National Monument its name and the structures there built by ancestral Puebloan people send a message.
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And something did happen at the monument Tuesday night: The moon rose between Chimney Rock and Companion Rock, demonstrating a rare celestial occurrence called the major lunar standstill. The event occurs monthly over the course of about two years on a precise, albeit lengthy 18.6-year cycle.
The standstill is an anomaly of sorts in the moon’s cycle.
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Just as the position of the sun’s rise and set travels across the horizon over the course of a year, the moon rises from different points on the horizon over the course of a month. But every 18.6 years, the moon’s orbit around the earth hits an extreme. For about two years – the period known as the standstill – the moon rises in an abnormally northern position.
The ancient Puebloans took notice of this aberration..
About 1,000 years ago, between the years A.D. 900 and 1125, ancestral Puebloans on the northeast edge of the Chacoan society constructed more than 200 buildings at Chimney Rock. The structures, of which remnants remain today, include a Chacoan complex known as a Great House.
From the Great house perched delicately atop a mesa – and only from that spot – a sliver of sky appears between the two offset pillars.
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When the moon reaches its northernmost position during the major lunar standstill, it rises between the two rocks. The phenomenon has led researches to believe that the Chimney Rock Great House was built to serve as a celestial observatory.
“The geology grabbed them and said, ‘Look at this thing. This is happening. It’s remarkable, it’s beautiful. Look!’” Ellingson said. “But other than that, this lunar standstill cycle is a very subtle thing. It’s every 18 years. It’s not practical. You can’t plant your crops by it, you can’t really do anything with it.”
‘The moon does this wild and crazy thing’ Chimney Rock is a sacred site to the descendants of those who inhabited it around the year 900. The monument, created in 2012 by presidential proclamation, is managed by the San Juan National Forest in collaboration with the nonprofit Chimney Rock Interpretive Association and in consultation with 26 tribes that claim a cultural affiliation.
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The monument sits within the exterior boundary of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. Tribal members know the pillars as “Standing Rock.”
“It’s a part of our cultural landscape,” said Cassandra Atencio, Southern Ute Indian Tribe historic preservation officer during a presentation before the moonrise Tuesday night. “… It’s built into our histories and our oral stories.”
During the last standstill in the mid-2000s, the U.S. Forest Service allowed small groups of people to observe the event from a fire tower near the Great House. The tower was removed in 2010, leaving minimal space from which the event can be accessed by what forest officials say is a hazardous trail.
SJNF officials announced in 2023 that the monument would be closed during standstill viewing events.
However, the forest service announced earlier this year that it would hold livestream viewings of the standstill in partnership with Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Griffith employees, equipped with batteries, cameras and Starlink internet system, set up to stream the event to viewers in an amphitheater and live around the world.
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This is extraordinary location, extraordinary topographical feature, extraordinary history, and then the moon does this wild and crazy thing – who wouldn’t want to see it?” said Ed Krupp, the observatory’s director of 50 years.
As many as 160 people attended the first livestream event in September, said Cody Cammack, Chimney Rock’s lead ranger. About 75 people filled out the frigid stone amphitheater Tuesday night at the last livestream event of the season. More viewings are tentatively scheduled for 2025.
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“I’ve been looking forward to it,” said Jesse Carman, an archaeology student who traveled from Santa Fe for the event.
Krupp, Atencio and Ellingson all spoke as darkness settled over the monument.
At 10:01, the glow emerging between the two rocks on the screen (and on the actual horizon behind it) burgeoned into the edge of the waning moon.
People have likely been observing this particular event in this particular location for a thousand years, experts think. Wood sampled from the Great House has been dated to the years A.D. 1076 and A.D. 1093-1094 – all years when major lunar standstills were observable.
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“The ancestral Pueblo people built a Great House, the kivas, this complex up in the sky up at Chimney Rock to celebrate, to watch the moon rise,” Ellingson said. “And here we are, 1,000 years later, gathering here to watch the same moon do the same thing.”
After the light faded from the narrow sky between Chimney and Companion rocks, the bundled masses returned to their cars and moon finished its rise, looking a little different.
Colorado Ping ( Let me know if you wish to be added or removed from the list.)
Depends upon where one is standing to make the observation.
During the Spring and Summer, if I am facing directly east the Full Moon rises between two oak trees in my backyard.
During the Fall and Winter, if I stand closer to the northern tree while still facing east I can still see the Full Moon between the two oaks.
Awesome!
Typical modern control-freak US government. Only professionals and the holy Indians will be able to go.
Regular schlubs have to watch it on a screen they will let you log in for.
“SJNF officials announced in 2023 that the monument would be closed during standstill viewing events.
However, the forest service announced earlier this year that it would hold livestream viewings of the standstill in partnership with Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles. Griffith employees, equipped with batteries, cameras and Starlink internet system, set up to stream the event to viewers in an amphitheater and live around the world.”
Next they’ll close the beaches and let you watch a live stream of crashing waves.
Idiots.
I gather that this phenomenon is caused by orbital precession, the same phenomenon which drives the 100,000 year Milankovitch ice cycles.
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I drove by Fort Ancient mound works that night.
About 35 astro-hippies dancing around in the grass.
No wonder this country is in the shape its in.
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