Images and Thoughts about Astronomy
and Archaeoastronomy

Choose a category from our itinerary here, and click on any image below for a full-size image.
 
Acoma/El Malpais | El Morro/Chaco Arrival | Pueblo Bonito (Chaco) | Chaco Astronomy
Supernova Pictograph/Peñasco Blanco | Miscellaneous Images | Mesa Verde | Hovenweep

Acoma Pueblo – The City in the Sky, by Lisandra Collazo
 
Walking the Walk: The Acoma-Zuni Trial at El Malpais, by Rachel Harmony

	Here are our travelers: From left to right, Internet specialist and Dieruff High School graduate Adam Jones of Allentown, Allen student Sam Hopkins, Dieruff student Ronya Younes, First Aid specialist Mark Balanda of Easton, Dieruff student Lisandra Collazo, Morning Call reporter and writing specialist Rosa Salter, Allen student Rachel Harmony, Allentown School District planetarium director and group leader Gary Becker and Allen students Paul Kantzaridis, Dereck Rivera and Brandon Velivis.
Gary Becker, right, begins searching for our rental car at Albuquerque airport; fellow driver Mark Balanda is at left.
	Enchanted Mesa rises from the prairie on the way to Acoma pueblo, where legend has it a grandmother and granddaughter jumped to their deaths when their access was destroyed by lightning. They jumped rather than starve to death on top of the mesa. The Acoma still visit the site to pray.
A view toward Acoma pueblo, the oldest continuously inhabited city in North America. The town is on top of the main formation at center left. No digital cameras are allowed on the top of the mesa, which is why this site was photographed from the distance.
	Rachel Harmony, left, stands at lookout point outside Acoma. Inset is of Lisandra Collazo, left and Ronya Younes.
Cholla (we’re not sure of the spelling) cactus flowers on the Zuni-Acoma trail at El Malpais National Monument. The Acoma dry these stalks and use and sell them as walking sticks.
	We cross a lava field on the Zuni-Acoma trail. Inset is leader Gary Becker catching up to the rest of us.
This hole is a collapsed lava tube, which was formed when an underground conduit of magma ceased and its roof collapsed from erosion.
	This is an example of a butte in front of a flat-topped mesa. The highly eroded butte’s top is cracked through expansion and contraction of water during periods of freezing and thawing. The cracks widen, and the sandstone scales away, leaving gaps in the rock.