The name Maya Skies has a history that predates the current MayaSkies.net publication.
Before becoming an independent educational reference, the Maya Skies name was associated with an ambitious science-education and digital-heritage project centered on Maya astronomy, mathematics, Chichén Itzá, immersive visualization, and the use of emerging three-dimensional technologies to document archaeological heritage.
This page preserves that history while clearly explaining the distinction between the historical project and the present website.
The Origins of Maya Skies
The project that eventually became Tales of the Maya Skies originated after Alexandra Hall, then Executive Director of Chabot Space & Science Center, visited Chichén Itzá in Mexico in 2004.
According to the surviving project history, Hall was struck by both the architecture of Chichén Itzá and its astronomical relationships. The experience inspired the idea of producing a digital full-dome planetarium program that would introduce audiences to Maya achievements in astronomy.
The concept was larger than a conventional astronomy presentation.
The project sought to combine astronomy, Maya cultural perspectives, immersive storytelling, archaeology, mathematics, computer graphics, and educational research within the emerging medium of digital full-dome planetariums.
National Science Foundation Support
In 2007, Chabot Space & Science Center, working with LodeStar Astronomy Center and the Institute for Learning Innovation, received National Science Foundation support under Award No. 0610253.
The project was formally associated with Maya Skies: Research and Capacity-building in Fulldome Planetariums. Its objectives included developing and distributing the planetarium production while also studying how immersive presentation and culturally framed storytelling affected learning.
The project was therefore not simply a film-production exercise. Research and evaluation were built into the initiative.
The historical production materials describe an extensive collaboration involving artists, technicians, researchers, cultural advisers, science advisers, administrators, and Maya participants in Mexico and California. The production also received support from the Instituto Politécnico Nacional in Mexico City.
Creating Tales of the Maya Skies
Tales of the Maya Skies was developed as an immersive digital full-dome planetarium experience.
The production combined astronomical visualization with reconstructed environments intended to transport viewers into the world of the ancient Maya and introduce subjects such as astronomy, mathematics, architecture, and concepts of time.
Production involved numerous organizations and specialists. Historical project documentation credits Digitrove with 3D characters, vegetation, scene assembly, lighting, texturing, and final rendering; ARTSLab at the University of New Mexico contributed animation; Chabot created night-sky visualizations; and cultural and scientific advisers reviewed the developing narrative.
Grammy Award-winning artist Lila Downs narrated versions of the production in English and Spanish.
The show launched in 2009. The surviving official Maya Skies website reports that it subsequently reached more than 40 planetariums in the United States and internationally.
Chabot’s institutional history describes Tales of the Maya Skies as its first digital full-dome show highlighting a Latin American culture and notes its emphasis on Maya achievements in astronomy and mathematics.
Digitally Reconstructing Chichén Itzá
One of the most significant aspects of the wider Maya Skies project was the use of digital technology to document and reconstruct Chichén Itzá.
Producing realistic environments for the planetarium experience required detailed information about the site’s architecture.
Researchers used 3D laser scanning and digital photography to record archaeological structures and objects at Chichén Itzá. The resulting information could be transformed into precise digital models representing surviving structures and, with additional interpretation, visualizations of how portions of the site might once have appeared.
Chabot’s current description of Tales of the Maya Skies likewise explains that the pyramid and other structures at Chichén Itzá were laser-scanned and digitally recreated for the production.
This work placed Maya Skies at an interesting intersection of several fields:
archaeology, astronomy, cultural heritage, computer graphics, scientific visualization, and public education.
That intersection remains an important inspiration for the editorial direction of the present MayaSkies.net.
Mayaskies.net and the Digital Archaeological Archive
The historical role of Mayaskies.net extended beyond promoting the planetarium show.
In January 2011, an archaeological data archive and web-based collaborative learning resource associated with the project was announced. Contemporary documentation described Mayaskies.net as providing access to digital archaeological material generated from work at Chichén Itzá.
The archive centered on a large-scale three-dimensional record of the site produced using laser scanning and digital photography.
Contemporary references pointed directly to Mayaskies.net resources involving archaeological documentation, production tools, master classes, research material, and computer-graphics work.
The archive grew out of research performed for Chabot Space & Science Center’s Tales of the Maya Skies project and demonstrated how data originally gathered for visualization could also become valuable for research, education, and digital heritage.
This historical use is important because it explains why the MayaSkies.net domain has such a strong connection not only with Maya astronomy but also with digital archaeology and cultural-heritage visualization.
Research and Educational Evaluation
Maya Skies also generated formal educational research.
Researchers investigated how immersive environments affected visitor learning, how presenting astronomy through Maya cultural context influenced engagement, and which elements of the full-dome experience produced particularly strong audience responses.
An external evaluation separately examined the project’s production process, collaboration model, audience response, educational value, and perspectives from specialists in astronomy and Maya culture and cosmology.
This history reinforces an important principle for the present MayaSkies.net:
Maya astronomy should not be treated simply as a collection of mysterious claims or isolated astronomical facts. It is better understood within the wider contexts of culture, mathematics, architecture, archaeology, evidence, and the ways knowledge is communicated.
A Project With a Continuing Legacy
Tales of the Maya Skies did not disappear with the original web project.
As of 2026, Chabot Space & Science Center continues to list the 35-minute production within its planetarium programming. Chabot describes it as a journey through the ancient Maya world using digitally recreated structures from Chichén Itzá while introducing Maya understanding of space, time, and mathematics.
The historical project, its film, research, associated digital assets, and institutional relationships therefore have their own continuing identity.
That identity must be distinguished from the current use of MayaSkies.net.
A New and Independent MayaSkies.net
The present MayaSkies.net is an independent educational publication.
It is not the official continuation of the original Maya Skies project.
It is not operated by, affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by Chabot Space & Science Center, the National Science Foundation, INSIGHT, the Instituto Politécnico Nacional, the original Tales of the Maya Skies production team, or other organizations that participated in the historical initiative unless an affiliation is specifically stated.
The present website does not claim ownership of the historical project’s:
- original archaeological database or archive;
- 3D scans or models;
- films or planetarium productions;
- photographs or production artwork;
- research documents;
- software;
- logos or branding assets; or
- other copyrighted or proprietary materials.
Those materials remain subject to the rights, licenses, and ownership applicable to their original creators and institutions.
Historical references on this website are provided to document the history of the domain and explain how the Maya Skies name became associated with astronomy, Chichén Itzá, visualization, and digital archaeology.
Preserving the Subject, Not Claiming the Institution
Rebuilding a historically significant domain creates a responsibility to distinguish continuity of subject matter from continuity of organization.
The new MayaSkies.net preserves a natural connection with the subjects that defined the earlier project:
Maya astronomy.
Calendars and timekeeping.
Mathematics.
Chichén Itzá.
Archaeoastronomy.
Archaeological evidence.
Digital reconstruction.
Cultural heritage.
But it does not represent itself as the same institution, research team, archive, or production.
The goal is to build a new reference publication around these interconnected subjects while being transparent about where the domain came from.
Maya Skies Today
Today, MayaSkies.net is being developed as an independent educational resource for readers who want to understand how Maya peoples studied and interpreted the sky, measured time, used mathematics, recorded dates, constructed monumental architecture, and developed knowledge within diverse historical and cultural contexts.
The website also explores how archaeologists and digital-heritage specialists study that past today—from inscriptions and architectural surveys to laser scanning, photogrammetry, three-dimensional modeling, and scientific visualization.
This approach reflects something valuable in the history of the Maya Skies name.
The original project brought together the sky, archaeology, mathematics, architecture, technology, and education.
The new MayaSkies.net explores those same intersections through a new, independent publication built around accessible explanations, transparent sourcing, careful distinctions between evidence and interpretation, and respect for the continuing presence of Maya peoples and cultures.
The website’s history therefore serves not as a claim to the accomplishments of the earlier project, but as context for the direction of the publication today.
Maya Skies — Reading the Sky, Time, and Architecture of the Maya.