Volunteer astronomers

We have been visiting several national parks in the Four Corners area. Our latest stop was Chaco Canyon. I heard through a subscriber to my newsletter that frends of hers were volunteering at Chaco and were in the campground as hosts. On the way out we stopped to meet them.

Chaco Culture National Historical Park holds the ruins of several large pueblos that was the center of the Anasazi (ancestral Puebloans) culture for about 300 years. Unlike most Anasazi ruins, these are on the valley floor rather than high in alcoves on the canyon walls. There is evidence the people had markers for the solstices.

There are actually three campground host couples. They each work three days then are off for six. Jim and Jan on their "days off" also volunteer for the park archaeologist and had just gotten back from a site survey. Some days they might work in the visitor center.

The main draw for Jim and for one of the other couples was to assist with the night sky program that Chaco does three nights a week. After a talk on how the Chacoans used astronomy, they offer viewing on the park telescope and also on telescopes that the volunteer astronomers bring and set up. Unfortunately the day of our visit it was cloudy and rainy. There would be no viewing of the night sky.

Both couples we talked to were there for two months, then moving on to other assignments. For amateur astronomers, Chaco Canyon would be an excellent place to be. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak

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