The Mayas where without a doubt the culture that excelled in all Mesoamerica for their astronomy studies. This studies where done mainly by the priests who studied the stars in order to calculate an accurate date in which to perform their ceremonies.

All the studies the Mayas did where, of course, with the naked eye, since they never constructed any kind of telescope. However there are some buildings, like the Caracol in Chichen Itza, that where probably build to serve as study centers for the Maya astronomers.

The astronomical calculations that the Mayas accomplished are incredibly precise. For example, they calculated that the Venus year took 584 days, it actually takes 593.92, but they were close enough. The calendar also based on the travel of the Earth around the Sun is in many ways more accurate than our own.

Some people have questioned whether the movements of planets other than Venus where observed by the Mayas, but it is hard to believe that many of the tables on the codices are not calculations of different planets including Mars and Mercury.

One of the most amazing things the Mayas accomplished involve the combination of astronomy with architecture. For example when the Castillo of Chichen Itza was constructed, they built it exactly so that every year during the Equinoxes, a shadow with the shape of snake would seem to come down the stairs of the temple and into a giant Kukulkan head placed at the bottom.

The Maya Kings timed their accession rituals in tune with the stars and the Milky Way. They celebrated katun endings approximately every twenty years. At the end of the 20-year katun period, Maya rulers regularly erected a stela, called a stone tree, to commemorate the event. On stone stela they depicted themselves at the time of these ceremonies dressed in costumes that contained the symbols that were associated with the sky.

The astronomy of the Maya was a living, religious philosophy that permeated their lives to a degree that might seem excessive to modern people. They were astute observers, sensitive to the cyclical nature of the sun, moon and planets.