A Study Abroad Astronomy Lab

In 2005 and 2006, Dr. Donna van Bodegraven and I led Elon University students to the Yucatan peninsula for an astronomy class focusing on ancient and modern astronomy in Mexico.  This intensive course involved measuring the positions and orientations of Maya ruins using GPS, shooting panoramic photos of the sites, and uploading these into Starry Night Pro desktop planetarium software to see how the skies looked to the ancient Maya over 1000 years ago.

Links

1. Destinations included Merida, Dzibilchaltun, Chichen Itza, the Eco Paraiso ecological hotel, the National Museum of Anthropology, and The Large Millimeter Telescope.