Major Standstill Northern Moonrise at Chimney Rock, Colorado – Night One

The moon is doing something it hasn’t done for more than 18 years. Its orbit around the earth is now tilted at the greatest angle from the path of the sun. We’ll see this on the ground each month as the moon rises and sets as far north and as far south as it is ever seen. This circumstance is known as the major lunar standstill. It is taking place now, and it will continue through most of 2025.

It has been argued that features at some ancient and prehistoric sites were deliberately aligned to these greatest monthly excursions of the moon. Chimney Rock National Monument, near Pagosa Springs in southwest Colorado, hosts a striking appearance of the major standstill northern moonrise between two distinctive and monumental rock pillars. This event is only visible from near a thousand-year-old Ancestral Pueblo Great House, and some believe that may explain why that sacred ceremonial building is there. Because the mountaintop can accommodate only a handful of eyewitnesses for the event, the United States Forest Service in consultation with its tribal partners, Griffith Observatory, and Griffith Observatory Foundation will broadcast September’s northernmost moonrises from the summit at Chimney Rock, where the Griffith Observatory livestream broadcast team will be posted.