New Zealand Astronomers & Science
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2. Stonehenge:
How the ancients, from Babylonians to Polynesians, interpreted and used the stars. Stonehenge in Britain and the construction of Stonehenge Aotearoa in the Wairarapa. Richard Hall, Carter Observatory / Phoenix Astronomical Society. Introduction by Dr. Grant Christie, Royal Society Cttee for Astronomical Sciences, Chairman of the Auckland Observatory and Planetarium Trust Board, Director of Research at the Observatory.
Recorded at Auckland, National Maritime Museum, Tuesday 11 May, courtesy Radio NZ.
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Albert Jones-Stargazer
An amateur Nelson astronomer who co-discovered the brightest explosion seen by the naked eye in the night sky in three centuries is to receive an honorary doctorate from Victoria University. Mr Jones is regarded as one of the world's finest visual observers of variable stars (stars that vary in brightness). Amateur astronomers like Mr Jones play a significant role in astronomy. This One News story was broadcast in February 2004. Video supplied by the NZTV Archives.
 ALBERT JONES: SUPERNOVA SPOTTER
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IN MEMORIUM:
Sir William Pickering, a great New Zealander
Dr Pickering, the New Zealand-born giant of rocket science and space
exploration, including the Mariner probes to Venus, has died at his California home, aged 93.
This is a tribute to Sir William from Pete Hodgson, Minister for Research, Science and Technology.
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New Zealand Astronomy: The Past, The Present And The Future
A review by John Hearnshaw, Professor of Astronomy at the University of Canterbury. This comprehensive article looks at the role astronomy has played in New Zealand's Maori and European history, culture and science. From this page you will be able to view a series of related articles originally published in the RASNZ's Southern Stars journal and Information Sheets from the Carter Observatory, find out about NZ's participation in a number of international astronomy projects and a listing of NZ scientists currently active in research in NZ Universities.
Astronomy at UOC
VUW SCPS - School of Chemical and Physical Sciences
Department of Physics and Astronomy
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The Thames Observatories of John Grigg
Amateur astronomer John Grigg lived in Thames where he built two observatories in the 1860's to his death in 1920. Triggered by fellow Thames astronomer Henry Severn's observations of the 1874 Transit of Venus, Grigg went on to prepare for the 1882 Transit and a career of pioneering comet discovery and astronomical photography. This article by Wayne Orchiston, courtesy of the RASNZ, was originally published in Southern Stars journal Sept 2001.
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Henry Severn: Thames' Other Nineteenth Century Astronomer
A gold assayer by profession and a keen amateur astronomer, Severn built his own telescopes and in 1871 had the largest reflector in NZ. His preparations for the 1874 Venus Transit were dashed by clouds on the day but his activities directly led to the later astronomical observations successes of John Grigg in the little gold mining town of Thames. This article by Wayne Orchiston, courtesy of the RASNZ, was originally published in Southern Stars journal June 2001.
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Extrasolar Planetary Transits
Planetary transit events have been important historically, but they have recently again become important. In the past, transits of the planet Venus across the face of the Sun have been scientifically important, while the current interest is in using transit events to detect and obtain information about planets outside our solar system. This article briefly explores the background to these phenomena and also provides a description of the work of NZ astronomers Denis Sullivan & Tirikatene Sullivan observing at Mauna Kea Observatory in Hawaii where they obtained transit data on a so far unique extrasolar planet.
PICTURE GALLERY: Observing on the Summit of Mauna Kea
Denis and Tiri have selected a number of pictures to give a flavour to working in an open dome at the top of Mauna Kea. Most people would have an image of sun and beaches when thinking of Hawaii, but we can assure you that you get a rather different perspective on things when working in an open dome at night on the top of Mauna Kea.
Mauna Kea High Speed Photometry of Transits of the Extrasolar Planet HD209458b. Feb 2003.
This PDF document provides additional detail for reference on the work of Denis Sullivan and Tiri Sullivan, School of Chemical & Physical Sciences, Victoria University of Wellington.
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Using a Webcam for Astronomical Imaging
Amateur NZ astronomer Glen Rowe has been interested in astronomy for more than 30 years and during that time has developed an expertise in photographing various objects in the sky. Before his purchase of a webcam, he had never attempted photographing any of the planets because of the difficulties involved - these targets appear very small due to their distance from Earth and require the use of high magnification. Imagine taking a picture of a 10c coin at a distance of 200 metres! Now, thanks to digital imaging methods combined with clever processing software the problem described above can be largely overcome, as his photos show.
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New Zealand Local Astronomical Societies
This is a listing of local Astronomical Societies by region throughout New Zealand compiled by the Royal New Zealand Astronomical Society, many connected with Observatories, and offer many opportunities to students and adults to experience and learn about the stars, the solar system and the galaxies.
more >>
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PLANETARY EXPLORER - NEW ZEALAND'S SPACE PIONEER.
It is not well known in New Zealand or America that the man responsible for America's first satellite, and who led their unmanned deep space research, came from New Zealand. In this article, John Campbell from the University of Canterbury's Physics Department, summarises the life and work of William Pickering.
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William Pickering, Rocket Man.
William Pickering: Rocket Man. The launch of Sputnik in 1957 forced the United States into the space race. Fighting in the Cold War the Americans needed to show the world that they too could launch a rocket into space - and they had to do it quickly. Less than three months later Explorer 1 was launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida. The man behind it: William Pickering from Wellington, New Zealand.
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Beatrice Tinsley: Queen Of The Cosmos.
A world leader in modern cosmology and one of the most creative and significant theoreticians in modern astronomy. Her scientific work has been described by biographer Christine Cole Catley in The Book of New Zealand Women: Ko Kui Ma Te Kaupapa as "opening doors to the future study of the evolutions of stars, galaxies and even the Universe itself." Beatrice Tinsley has profoundly affected what scientists know about the origin and size of the universe.
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Hercules Spectrograph
Man has always been fascinated by the thought of another planet like earth existing somewhere else in our universe. Professor John Hearnshaw and his team at Mt John have built the world's most sophisticated piece of equipment in the effort to detect such planets orbiting other stars - the Hercules spectrograph.The 3 minute about this research has been posted on the knowledge.nzoom.com website. To view this video click on "related video" on the Hercules story page.
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Rodney Austin's comet-hunting career
Comet-hunting can be considered the 'sport' of astronomy and Rod Austin has been fortunate to discover three new comets. Rod has been involved in a formal sense in astronomy since age 11. He joined the staff of the Mt John University Observatory as an Observer/Technician observing Eclipsing Binary stars, and filled in his 'spare' time with observations of minor planets and comets. When he first started hunting there were generally 12 to 15 new comets found every year. These days, with huge automatic search programmes with large telescopes, the numbers have soared to nearly 100 new comets each year.
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