Archaeological Preserve Named New Dark-Sky Park

Milky Way Over Chaco Culture National Historical Park
The Chaco Culture National Historical Park has just been designated a Dark Sky Park. Free of light pollution, the archaeological site in northwestern New Mexico offers amazing views of the night sky, such as this view of the Milky Way. (Image credit: Stan Honda)

In the northwestern corner of New Mexico, the Chaco Culture National Historical Park is famous for protecting the ruins of an ancient Pueblo settlement. But now the 34,000-acre (13,750–hectare) park is being honored for protecting its views of the cosmos, too.

The International Dark-Sky Association (IDA) just named the site its newest (and twelfth) "Gold Tier" Dark Sky Park, citing Chaco's commitment to preserving its "near-pristine night skies."

"Once the night sky was something that was very much a part of the human experience at Chaco and around the globe," IDA executive director Bob Parks said in a statement. "We are delighted that Chaco is now preserving the nighttime environment alongside their historic treasures."[Spaced Out! 101 Astronomy Images That Will Blow Your Mind

Chaco joins 11 other sites that have been given a Dark Sky Park designation by IDA, including Death Valley National Park in California and Big Bend National Park in Texas.

According to Chaco's website, the park has retrofitted all of its lighting to reduce light pollution and enhance views of the night sky. IDA also praised the park's outreach and education efforts, which include regular events to celebrate eclipses and meteor showers and teach the public about archaeoastronomy and telescope viewing.

As Chaco Culture National Historic Park superintendent Larry Turk explained, skywatching is deeply ingrained in the site's past.

"Standing at one of the park's 4,000 prehistoric archeological sites," Turk said in a statement, "one can easily imagine another human centuries earlier gazing awestruck into the same universe while surrounded by ecosystems that have adapted to the natural rhythms of the moon and stars."

A formal public dedication of Chaco's new IDA Dark Sky Park designation will take place at the Chaco Canyon Star Party on Oct. 5.

This story was provided by LiveScience, a sister site to SPACE.com. Follow Megan Gannon on Twitter and Google+. Follow us @livescienceFacebookGoogle+. Original article on LiveScience.

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Megan Gannon
Space.com Contributing Writer

Megan has been writing for Live Science and Space.com since 2012. Her interests range from archaeology to space exploration, and she has a bachelor's degree in English and art history from New York University. Megan spent two years as a reporter on the national desk at NewsCore. She has watched dinosaur auctions, witnessed rocket launches, licked ancient pottery sherds in Cyprus and flown in zero gravity on a Zero Gravity Corp. to follow students sparking weightless fires for science. Follow her on Twitter for her latest project.