ASTRONOMIES OF THE AMERICAS9 STORIES ONLINE

First
Skies

One sky. Observational sciences, calendars, stories — and different ways of tying the stars to the land.

Explore the nine nations See their sky tonight

ACTIVE CONSTELLATION

Tayámni — the celestial animal Lakota nation
01 · GREAT PLAINS 02 · SOUTHWEST 03 · MESOAMERICA 04 · ARCTIC · ANDES · PACIFIC

A LIVING COLLECTION

Observe without shrinking.
Tell without mixing.

Long before telescopes, generations of observers had already tied sky cycles to seasons, travel, planting and calendars.

This collection does not turn that knowledge into décor. It names each nation, cites sources, and keeps attested observations, scholarly interpretations and stories with their own rules of transmission apart.

9skies told
9AR layers in the tracker
5markers compared
0evocation image — only the stars

COMPARED ATLAS

Five lights.
Several worlds, linked.

Pick a marker. The map does not merge traditions: it shows how one celestial object takes on different jobs.

M45 The Pleiades Star cluster · Taurus
Move the pointer to examine the field

THE COLLECTION · 9 / 9 ONLINE

Nine territories.
Nine doors into the sky.

Each dossier has its bibliography. The figures on the maps are the asterisms themselves, computed from their coordinates.

01GREAT PLAINS · NEBRASKA PAWNEE NATION — SKIDI BANDThe star chart
on elk hideOriented villages, lodge-observatories, a map painted on hide. Explore this sky 02YUCATÁN · GUATEMALA · CHIAPAS MAYA CIVILIZATIONVenus predicted
to the dayTables, nested cycles, naked-eye observation. Explore this sky 03SOUTH DAKOTA · WYOMING LAKOTA NATIONThe Black Hills,
mirror of the skyA journey on the land set against a ring of stars. Explore this sky 04ARIZONA · NEW MEXICO DINÉ NATIONBlack God
sows the starsSky order, seasonal cycles, winter stories. Explore this sky 05GREAT LAKES · ONTARIO · MINNESOTA ANISHINAABEG · OJIBWEThe Fisher who
freed the summerThe Winter-Maker, the Great Bear and thirteen moons. Explore this sky 06VALLEY OF MEXICO MEXICAThe night of
the New FireA 52-year cycle hung on the Pleiades’ midnight transit. Explore this sky 07ARCTIC · NUNAVUT · GREENLAND INUITAstronomy of
the long nightA star clock, Aagjuuk, scintillation as a weather report. Explore this sky 08ANDES · PERU · BOLIVIA INCA AND QUECHUA COMMUNITIESThe dark
constellationsReading the shadows of the Milky Way — the Llama that drinks the sea. Explore this sky 09PACIFIC · HAWAIʻI · AOTEAROA POLYNESIAN NAVIGATORSAn ocean crossed
by the starsMemorized compass, zenith stars, Hōkūleʻa 1976. Explore this sky

No evocation photos: what you see are the real stars of each tradition, projected live in the browser.

WHAT THEY READ THERE

Nine gazes.
One firmament.

Each sentence comes from its dossier. Click to read the full account.

01 · PAWNEE The Council of Chiefs

The sky founds the villages: each patron star has its sacred bundle, and Corona Borealis sits as the Council of Chiefs.

 02 · MAYA The Three Hearthstones

To predict Venus was to keep the agenda of power: 584 days, corrected generation after generation.

 03 · LAKOTA Tayámni — the celestial animal

As above, so below: Tayámni crosses the winter, and the Black Hills answer the hoop of stars.

 04 · DINÉ The Náhookǫs family

Black God sets the order; Coyote throws the bag — and Dilyéhé says when to plant.

 05 · OJIBWÉ Biboonkeonini

The sky makes the seasons: the Winter-Maker rises with the freeze; the Fisher pierced the vault.

 06 · MEXICA Tianquiztli — the Marketplace

Every 52 years the empire put out its fires and watched Tianquiztli at midnight zenith.

 07 · INUIT Ullaktut — the Runners

When the Sun is gone for weeks, the star caribou tells the hour.

 08 · INCA Yacana — the Llama

They read the sky’s silences: Mayu’s dark clouds, not only the bright points.

 09 · POLYNÉSIE Manaiakalani

The navigator is the instrument: a 32-house compass, and Hōkūleʻa for Hawaiʻi’s latitude.

TWO SKY ENGINES

The year, and Venus.
Computed here.

The calendar says whether each nation’s marker is above the horizon on a night of the month. The wheel follows the Dresden table: 236 + 90 + 250 + 8 = 584 days.

VISIBILITY 2026 · EVENING / NIGHT

Their marker, month by month

Lit dot: the body is more than 8° high while the Sun is below −8°. Default position: contiguous United States. Recalculated if you share yours.

DRESDEN CODEX · 584 DAYS

Where Venus is

— — current phase of the cycle
  1. 236 d · morning star
  2. 90 d · invisible (superior)
  3. 250 d · evening star
  4. 8 d · invisible (inferior)

MAP COMPUTED IN YOUR BROWSER

Their sky, tonight,
above you.

COMPUTED FOR Contiguous United States

LOCAL EPHEMERIS

—

COMPUTING THE SUN…

ZENITHHORIZON
Now

Point your phone at the real sky.
The link opens the tracker already set to a sky from the collection. Nothing leaves the device.

Launch the Lakota sky

OUR METHOD, OUT OF RESPECT

Precision
starts with the words.

There is no generic “Indians.” Here each page starts from a name, a territory and identifiable sources.

  1. 01
    Name precisely

    Skidi Pawnee, Lakota, Diné, Anishinaabeg, Maya, Mexica, Inuit, Quechua communities and Polynesian navigators are not interchangeable.

  2. 02
    Keep the levels apart

    What is attested, what a scholar interprets and what a tradition tells are not presented as one kind of proof.

  3. 03
    Respect transmission

    When a story is seasonal, sacred or reserved, we mark that limit instead of pretending to show everything.

  4. 04
    Give the sources

    Ethnographic, historical and archaeological references sit at the bottom of each dossier.