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 Information about the southern night sky, lastest astronomy news, Stonehenge-Aotearoa, Maori astronomy, Phoenix Astronomical Society, AstroShop and more.
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The New Zealand Almanac
The almanac for 2010 is still available. Cost: $5 + p&p. |
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August Society MeetingsWellington Society Meeting at Carter Observatory, Wellington - Thursday August 26th 7:30pm (Note change in the time)Wairarapa Society Meeting at the Phoenix Clubrooms, Ahiaruhi, Wairarapa - Friday August 27th at 7:30pm (Note change in the time)Gravitational Microlensing Modelling at VUW
Dr Pauline Harris
School of Chemical and Physical Sciences,
Victoria University of Wellington.
To date over 400 extrasolar planets have been discovered. Of these around 9 have been discovered using gravitational microlensing. At Victoria University, modelling of microlensing events is in current development. I present here some of the progress being made in the most recent upgraded modelling code and its implementation on the large scale computer grids at Victoria.
Documentary
Journey to the Edge of the Universe (National Geographic)
In one single, epic camera move we journey from Earths surface to the outermost reaches of the universe on a grand tour of the cosmos, to explore newborn stars, distant planets, black holes and beyond. |
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The Phoenix Astronomical Society Star Parties for August and September Our star party in September will focus on the northern Milkyway from Scutum to Cygnus, and the zodiac constellations of Capricornus and Aquarius. This is a great chance to see the easiest to observe planetary nebula in the sky – M27, Dumbbell Nebula in Vulpecula. Aquarius is also home to planetaries (albeit more difficult to observe), NGC 7009 Saturn Nebula and NGC 7293 Helix Nebula – perhaps the most elusive planetary in the sky. Both Jupiter and Uranus are also very well placed for viewing. In October we’ll move away from the Milky Way to the realm of the Southern Galaxies (Sculptor) and the Southern Bird Constellations (Phoenix, Tucana, Grus and Pavo). Friday 27th August (After the Wairarapa meeting):
9:30 pm: The Moon and Jupiter, plus the Messier clusters of the Milkyway Saturday 11th September (Wet or fine): 5:00pm: BBQ
6:30pm: Night-Sky AV
7:00pm: Northern Milkyway and Zodiac (presentation)
8:00pm: Observing or Binocular Observing Workshop Friday 24th September (After the Wairarapa meeting):
9:30 pm: Full moon plus Jupiter and Uranus. Saturday 9th October: (Wet or fine) – Note daylight savings! 6:00pm: BBQ
7:30pm: Night-Sky AV
8:00pm: Galaxy Hunting Among The Southern Birds (presentation)
9:00pm: Observing or Binocular Observing Workshop CANCELLATION warning: In the case of extreme weather we will cancel evenings – we don’t want anyone getting hurt on their way to the observatory. Notices will be posted on our web site also be sent via Phoenix Announce (phoenix-astro-announcement@googlegroups.com). If you’re in any doubt, please phone or text Cameron Jack on 021-232-6613 or Richard Hall on 027-2305-191. |
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The Winter Astro Camp 2010 By Antony Gomez
The weather looked promising earlier in the week but unfortunately it didn’t quite pan out for the weekend. On the Friday evening we managed to get a quick glimpse of the amazing live video colour images of a few deep sky objects before the clouds rolled over the Milkyway. There were some breaks in the clouds and although I only had a rough idea where they were, I was able to just locate the 11th magnitude Grus Trio on Pam Davidson’s 6” Skywatcher Dobsonian. These galaxies are around 60 million lightyears away and despite the weather, it goes to show what can be observed on a moderate telescope from a dark sky site.
The Saturday began with a tour of Stonehenge Aotearoa followed by a series of presentations from the thrill and research of observing occultations, to the influence of the Sun on the rise and fall of past civilisations. Part of the afternoon was dedicated to observing the southern night sky, the highlight being the beautifully coloured and detailed images of deep sky objects produced by John Whitby’s video system taken from his home in the Wairarapa. The day was rounded off with a nice meal at the RSA and an excellent presentation by NZ’s leading radio astronomer, Dr Melanie Johnston-Hollit, who gave an overview on the exciting and ground breaking research taking place in radio astronomy including NZ involvement in the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) billion dollar radio telescope.
On Sunday, we again had many interesting and varied talks on practical astronomy (building a backyard observatory, building a cheap occultoscope, maintaining your binoculars), historical presentations (women who helped revolutionise astronomy, Asian/Pacific migration) to our current understandings of stellar fusion and cosmology.
For those that attended the whole weekend or part of it, there was something for everyone. Thank you to all that helped out during the weekend and a special thanks to everyone that contributed with their time and presentations.
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The Phoenix Astronomical Society Noticeboard
Stardate 2011 will be held from the 6th to 11th of January  |
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