{"id":25214,"date":"2024-10-23T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rare-lunar-event-illuminates-chimney-rock-national-monument\/"},"modified":"2026-03-30T23:13:04","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:13:04","slug":"rare-lunar-event-illuminates-chimney-rock-national-monument","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/rare-lunar-event-illuminates-chimney-rock-national-monument\/","title":{"rendered":"Rare lunar event illuminates Chimney Rock National Monument"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"The
The major\u00a0lunar standstill\u00a0northern\u00a0moonrise is visible between Chimney and Companion rocks once per month for a period of about 24 months, every 18.6 years. This photo was taken Oct. 5, 2023, as the standstill observation period began at Chimney Rock. (Courtesy of Vanessa Alarcon, Griffith Observatory)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

CHIMNEY ROCK NATIONAL MONUMENT \u2013 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSomething should happen here\u201d \u2013 that\u2019s the message Erica Ellingson, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder, hears. She studies, among other things, the relationship ancient cultures had to the sky.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The standstill is an anomaly of sorts in the moon\u2019s cycle.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThe
\u201cThe geology grabbed them and said, \u2018Look at this thing. This is happening. It\u2019s remarkable, it\u2019s beautiful. Look!\u2019\u201d said Erica Ellingson, a professor of astrophysics at the University of Colorado Boulder at Chimney Rock National Monument on Tuesday night. \u201cBut other than that, this lunar standstill cycle is a very subtle thing. It\u2019s every 18 years. It\u2019s not practical. You can\u2019t plant your crops by it, you can\u2019t really do anything with it.\u201d (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Just as the position of the sun\u2019s 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\u2019s orbit around the earth hits an extreme<\/a>. For about two years \u2013 the period known as the standstill \u2013 the moon rises in an abnormally northern position.<\/p>\n

The ancient Puebloans took notice of this aberration, it seems.<\/p>\n

\"The
The major\u00a0lunar standstill\u00a0northern\u00a0moonrise is visible between Chimney and Companion rocks once per month for a period of about 24 months, every 18.6 years. This photo was taken Oct. 5, 2023, as the standstill observation period began at Chimney Rock. (Courtesy of Vanessa Alarcon, Griffith Observatory)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

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.<\/p>\n

From the Great house perched delicately atop a mesa \u2013 and only from that spot \u2013 a sliver of sky appears between the two offset pillars.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt begs you to think, what happens in this little piece of sky?\u201d Ellingson said.<\/p>\n

\"Ronnie
Ronnie Cachini is an Indigenous artist from the Pueblo of Zuni, New Mexico. His artwork \u2013 seen on many interpretative panels throughout Chimney Rock National Monument \u2013 depicts the landscape, stories, history and heritage of the monument and its importance to the Zuni people. The Zuni Tribe is one of 26 tribes with a cultural or traditional affiliation to Chimney Rock. (Courtesy of the San Juan National Forest)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe geology grabbed them and said, \u2018Look at this thing. This is happening. It\u2019s remarkable, it\u2019s beautiful. Look!\u2019\u201d Ellingson said. \u201cBut other than that, this lunar standstill cycle is a very subtle thing. It\u2019s every 18 years. It\u2019s not practical. You can\u2019t plant your crops by it, you can\u2019t really do anything with it.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018The moon does this wild and crazy thing\u2019<\/div>\n

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<\/a>, 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.<\/p>\n

\"\u201cThis
\u201cThis is extraordinary location, extraordinary topographical feature, extraordinary history, and then the moon does this wild and crazy thing \u2013 who wouldn\u2019t want to see it?\u201d said Ed Krupp, director of the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles at Chimney Rock National Monument on Tuesday night during a livestream viewing of the major lunar standstill. (Reuben M. Schafir\/Durango Herald)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The monument sits within the exterior boundary of the Southern Ute Indian Reservation. Tribal members know the pillars as \u201cStanding Rock.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a part of our cultural landscape,\u201d said Cassandra Atencio, Southern Ute Indian Tribe historic preservation officer during a presentation before the moonrise Tuesday night. \u201c\u2026 It\u2019s built into our histories and our oral stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

SJNF officials announced in 2023<\/a> that the monument would be closed during standstill viewing events.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\n