Auckland Astronomical Society Inc

Practical Astronomy - The Winter Night Sky
2022-05-30 20:00 - 21:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Winter Night Sky review is normally held in June but this year, the Stardome will be holding Matariki events all nights of that week to mark the inaugural public holiday. Therefore we are making use of the fifth Monday of May. There will be no AAS events on Monday 20th June.
The Winter Night Sky review is held in the Planetarium. We will review the constellations and deep sky objects of the Winter Night Sky.

Monthly Meeting June
2022-06-13 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Precision Metrology of the Sky: Advances and Problems of VLBI Astrometry
The use of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) technique revolutionizes modern astrometry. It surpasses Gaia’s positional accuracy and allows conducting distance (parallax) measurements in the galactic plane far beyond the reach of optical telescopes. In this talk I will describe the method and report on some recent developments at the Warkworth Radio Astronomical Observatory in the field of radio (VLBI) astrometry. We will discuss problems of positional measurements in radio astronomy, talk about effects of radio source structure on determination of its precise position on the sky, about the perspectives of mapping spiral arms beyond the Galactic Centre with the use of methanol maser emission sources, learn about the “Gaia Sausage” as well as of a new class of pulsars based on rotating white dwarfs (rather than neutron stars).
Professor Sergei Gulyaev is the founder and director of AUT’s Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research (IRASR). Under his direction, the institute has built an observatory at Warkworth, north of Auckland, equipped with a 12-metre and a 30-metre radio telescope.
A hallmark of Professor Gulyaev’s research is his collaborative approach with the IRASR forging working relationships with radio astronomy and national aeronautical organisations around the world, including NASA, SpaceX, ESA (European Space Agency) and JAXA (Japanese Space Agency).
In one of many collaborative projects Professor Gulyaev and his team have used a technique known as Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) to link the Warkworth radio telescope with observatories across Australia, including ASKAP (Australian SKA Pathfinder). Acting as one virtual radio telescope they were able to get greater resolution or sharper cosmic images from their observations.

Film Night June 27
2022-06-27 20:00 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We are running two films tonight:
Search For the Edge of Space
The universe has long captivated us with its immense scales of distance and time. Many astronomers today have come to believe that what we can see represents only a small fraction of all there is. They are pioneering bold new theories that describe a cosmic landscape that extends far beyond the limits of our vision. What lies beyond the streams of galaxies that extend as far as our telescopes can see? Where does it all end? How do we fit within it?
BBC The Sky at Night Destination Moon 2022
2022 marks the fiftieth year since an astronaut last set foot on the moon. The Sky at Night team looks back at the legacy of the Apollo programme and forward to the future of lunar exploration.

Introduction to Astronomy July 2022
2022-07-04 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Life In The Solar System – Part 1
Guest Speaker – Jonathan Park
Could life exist elsewhere in the Solar System? Could it even get started anywhere else? People often wonder about the possibility of life on other worlds. Even if we eventually find only microbial life elsewhere in our Solar System, this will show life has arisen more than once around a single star in a galaxy of billions. Such a discovery would open the door for possibilities of life throughout the universe.
Tonight, in Part 1 of a two-part series, Jonathan will explore the potential for life elsewhere in our Solar System. We will ask the question “what is life?”, look at the building blocks of life, how life might get started, and Earth’s extremophiles – organisms which love extreme conditions. Next, we visit Saturn’s tiny icy moon Enceladus, to see what conditions are like there.

Monthly Meeting July
2022-07-11 18:00 - 19:00 | AUT WG403, 55 Wellesley Street East, Auckland, 1010, New Zealand
Dr Steve Goldman
Observatory Scientist, SOFIA/USRA
Monday 11 July, 6.00 pm
WG403, Sir Paul Reeves Building, AUT City Campus
Abstract
Where did the material that makes us up come from? It boils down to understanding how stars affect their surroundings, and vice-versa. We think that a lot of Earth’s Carbon and Oxygen originally formed during the final stages of ancient sun-sized stars called Asymptotic Giant Branch (AGB) stars, but exactly how much remains unclear. These stars pass this material on to the Universe in the form of dust. The dust in the interstellar medium is then pulled together by its own gravity to create stars and planets like the Sun and Earth. Understanding the origin of dust may allow us to better-understand the formation of our Solar System, and how Earth-like planets may form across the Universe. During this talk, I will discuss recent results targeting dusty evolved stars in nearby galaxies with the Spitzer and Hubble Space Telescopes, as well as the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA). I will also discuss the status and recent achievements of SOFIA, currently on deployment in New Zealand.
Bio
Dr Steve Goldman did his PhD at Keele University (Staffordshire UK), followed by a Postdoc position at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STSI, Baltimore, MD USA). Currently, Steve works as a SOFIA Observatory Scientist at the NASA Universities Space Research Association (USRA, Mountain View, CA US).

Astrophotography Group July
2022-07-18 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
High Resolution lunar imaging with a planetary camera and telescope with Shaun Fletcher.

I will use he videos and images from my most recent session as examples, and give lots of hints and tips from my experience of these type of images.

Special July Presentation - Polynesian navigation and ocean-going waka
2022-07-18 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Speaker Stan Conrad

I started my Voyaging in 1985 on the double-hull Voyaging Waka Hokule’a from Hawaii. Then in the year 1992 I captained the Voyaging Waka, Te Aurere, that Sir Hector Busby built, on its maiden voyage to Rarotonga. In 1993, I was the skipper of Te Aurere on its circumnavigation of the North Island and in 1995 I captained Te Aurere from Tahiti to Hawaii, Te Aurere being the first Maori Voyaging Waka to cross the equator in centuries.

In 2012 I sailed Te Aurere, accompanied by Nga Hiraka Mai Tawhiti, Sir Hector Busby’s second Voyaging Waka, to Rapa Nui (Easter Island).

I’m so grateful to have the knowledge of Voyaging, Traditional Navigation and Waka building taught to me by Mau Piailug, Nainoa Thompson and Sir Hector Busby. Today I pass the knowledge to the next generation.

Film Night July
2022-07-25 20:00 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
A Journey to Our Nearest Stars – Part 1
The universe is full of all kinds of stars – from tiny red dwarves to majestic blue giants. Some of them dimly twinkle for billions of years while others burn up almost instantly by space standards.
Today we are travelling to some of the most exciting ones, with every new star we come across further and further away from our home planet. This journey of thousands of light years will start near our closest star – the Sun. Together with the Parker probe we will brush its scorching corona and take a peek in its fiery depths. After that we will leave our home system to go around Alpha Centauri and check out some exoplanets located closest to the Earth.
A Journey to Our Nearest Stars – Part 2
We continue our journey visiting Betelgeuse and then onto WR102 which is believed to be the hottest star in the known universe. So hot that it turns all objects in its vicinity into ash.
We look forwards to viewing this exciting and informative film with you

Introduction to Astronomy August 2022
2022-08-01 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Life in the Solar System – Part 2
Guest Speaker: Jonathan Park
Last month, in part 1 of “Life in the Solar System”, Jonathan explored the potential for life elsewhere in our Solar System. We looked at the building blocks of life, how life might get started, and Earth’s extremophiles. This was followed by a visit to Enceladus to see what it might have to offer in the way of habitability.
In Part 2, we first visit Europa and Titan, and have a look to see whether conditions on either of these moons might be suitable for any kind of life. Next, we head to Mars, where we examine evidence of rivers, lakes, and an ocean. We will see that life had just as much chance of getting started on Mars as it did on Earth, but if it did manage to get started on Mars, would there be any way it could have survived up to the present? Following this, we very briefly touch on some upcoming missions to Titan and the icy moons of Jupiter, finishing with a look at other possible oceans in our Solar System, which could number up to 14!
We look forward to seeing you all there.

Monthly Meeting August - The James Webb Space Telescope – An introduction to the first images
2022-08-08 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Speaker Dr Chris Benton.

Last month NASA released the first highly-anticipated images from the James Webb Space Telescope, stunning the world with their clarity and previously unseen objects. Tonight Chris Benton outlines the telescope’s design features enabling these images and the importance of observing in the infrared, followed by a study of the first five pictures. The review includes discussing the astrophysical processes involved with each photograph, what new detail we can see and how this will help us understand the relevant area of astronomy.

This session covers a variety of astronomy fields with something for everyone. Come along and enjoy learning more about this fascinating and current topic that has everyone talking.

Astrophotography Group August
2022-08-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Simple Narrowband imaging with DSLR and Telescope
For this months meeting I will run through the process I used to produce a clear noise-free Hydrogen Alpha image of M8 the Lagoon Nebula using an unmodified DSLR, Ha Filter and 200mm telescope.
Even this modest equipment, and no specialist software or knowledge, can produce an image to be proud of!

Practical Astronomy August - The Dobsonian Telescope
2022-08-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
This month we will be discussing the Dobsonian Telescope, one of the more common telescope types used by amateur astronomers, primarily for visual observing. The Dobsonian consists of a Newtonian OTA, mounted on a simple alt/az mount, named after the late John Dobson, “The Sidewalk Astronomer of San Francisco”, who popularised these for their ease of setup and use for visual observing.

Film Night August - Cosmic Radiation
2022-08-22 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
What are the different forms of radiation arriving on earth, where in the universe does it come from, how is it detected and what can it tell us. August film night looks at these subjects with contributions from various research centres and observatories.

Introduction to Astronomy September 2022
2022-09-05 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Relativity – The Layman’s Guide
Part 1: Historical Background and Special Relativity
Guest Speaker: Nick Odom
Nick starts with a brief description of physical knowledge in the 1890s and the problems that led to relativity, in particular with regard to measuring the speed of light. He will describe the basic axioms that underpin the theory and the effects on time and distance, including the relevance of inertial frameworks, the Doppler effect and the twin paradox. Concluding, he addresses the relationship between mass and energy and finishes with an introduction to spacetime.
Nick keeps mathematics very simple and uses plenty of diagrams to explain the main points, making this fascinating topic accessible to everyone. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Monthly Meeting September - Dark Star: The Invisible Universe of Brown Dwarfs
2022-09-12 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month will be a screening of one of this years Silicon Valley Astronomy Lectures.
Presented by Dr. Adam Burgasser (University of California, San Diego)
In this illustrated talk, Dr. Burgasser explains what happens when a newly forming star doesn’t have “what it takes” to produce energy in its core in an ongoing way. This results in “failed stars” or brown dwarfs — objects that were predicted in theory, but only discovered in the 1990’s. Today, many thousands of these brown dwarfs are known, spanning a wide range of temperatures and masses, and occupying a unique niche at the intersection of stars and planets. Dr. Burgasser discusses how such faint objects are discovered, highlights their exceptional properties, and describes what this (mostly) invisible population can tell us about the formation and history of our Milky Way Galaxy.

Practical Astronomy September - The Spring Night Sky
2022-09-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This will be one of our seasonal Night Sky reviews. We will use the Digistar Planetarium to explore the constellations and deep sky objects of the Spring Night Sky. Weather permitting we will follow up with Telescope viewing using the EWB Zeiss telescope.

Film Night September 26th
2022-09-26 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We have two exciting short films tonight:
Artemis I – Path to the Pad: The Rocket

Have you ever wondered what it takes to assemble the most powerful rocket NASA has ever built? This is the lead up to Nasa’s test flight in anticipation of the next Manned space flight to the moon.

BBC The Sky at Night 2022 – The James Webb Road Trip
The Sky at Night team meets the scientists in the UK researching the astonishing new data returned by the James Webb Space Telescope.

Introduction to Astronomy October 2022
2022-10-03 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Relativity – The Layman’s Guide
Part 2: General Relativity & Gravity
Guest Speaker: Nick Odom
Relativity and Newton’s law of gravity are mathematically incompatible. Einstein realized that the local effects of gravity and acceleration are equivalent, and that gravity is a distortion of spacetime. An analysis of the effect of gravity on light reveals that time runs slower in gravitational fields and that light bends. The bending is increased by the curvature of space. We briefly examine black holes and end with the observational consequences of the theory.
This is a fascinating topic and not to be missed. We look forward to seeing you all there.
This meeting will also be live streamed to the AAS YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/c/AucklandAstronomicalSociety

Practical Astronomy October - Astronomical Object names and Catalogues.
2022-10-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month, we will be exploring astronomical naming conventions and object catalogues commonly encountered by amateur astronomers.

Film Night October 24th
2022-10-24 20:00 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We have two exciting films tonight

Life of a Universe – Part 1

In this two-part special, Professor Brian Cox tackles the biggest story of them all – how did the Universe come into being?

BBC The Sky at Night – The Sky at Day

The Sky at Night team reveals how stargazers can overcome cloudy weather by pointing their telescopes at the sky when it’s still light.

Monthly Meeting October - The Habitability of Planets, Galaxies and Universes
2022-10-31 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Finding other Earths and potentially other life forms is a major, increasingly reasonable scientific goal. Our search for habitable planets and inhabited planets is now in high gear. But what is life? And what is the best way to look for it. Are there specific places and times in our galaxy where life is more probable? I will review the general idea of habitability as it applies to planets, galaxies and universes in the multiverse scenario.
Dr Charley Lineweaver is an honorary associate professor at the Australian National University’s Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Research School of Earth Science and this year’s Burbidge Din-
ner speaker.

Introduction to Astronomy November 2022
2022-11-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Hazards of Human Spaceflight to Mars
Things You Need To Know
NASA and Elon Musk’s Space X recently announced their intention to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. Why go to Mars, and what are the challenges to the human body with this pioneering journey? Dr. Chris Benton will discuss these questions and outline the physical hazards of human long-duration spaceflight, proposed countermeasures and current research in this field, answering the question as to whether it will be safe.
It could be your close relatives or friends travelling on these pioneer missions. Come along and discover what you need to know for spaceflight to our neighbouring planet and possibly humanity’s second home.

Monthly Meeting November - The Fast Radio Sky: A New Window on the Violent Universe
2022-11-14 20:00 - 21:30 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month we will be screening a recent Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture with Dr. Victoria Kaspi (McGill University)
The Fast Radio Sky: A New Window on the Violent Universe
In this illustrated introduction, Dr. Kaspi introduces us to a brand-new mystery in the skies — superfast bursts of radio waves whose source is still unknown. These energetic bursts come from all over the sky (and all over the universe,) pack a huge amount of energy, and typically last a few thousandths of a second. Like a detective in the middle of a case, Dr. Kaspi fills us in on the story of how new observations (especially with the CHIME telescope project which she heads) have been revealing tantalizing new aspects of these bursts, without yet giving us a solution to their ultimate cause. She shares both the thrills and frustrations of a new phenomenon in science, still in the process of being explored.
Victoria Kaspi is the inaugural director of the McGill Space Institute and holds the Lorne Trottier Chair in Astrophysics and Cosmology at McGill University. She is the winner of the 2021 Shaw Prize in astronomy and the 2022 Albert Einstein World Award in Science.

Astrophotography Group November
2022-11-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Tonight we have an introduction to DeepSkyStacker by Eric Chiu. DeepSkyStacker is a freeware for astrophotographers that simplifies all the pre-processing steps of deep sky pictures.
This will be followed by a light discussion of the group meetings going forwards:

Subjects that we would like to cover off over the next 12 months. Subjects such as

Practical sessions
Theory sessions
Introductions to other software

If anyone is interested in covering a subject please let the group know
Do we want to form a small committee to coordinate the sessions.

Practical Astronomy November - variable stars
2022-11-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Variable Stars.
Observation of variable stars has a long history with amateur astronomy. We will discuss the types of variable stars and how to observe them to obtain scientifically useful data. This is still a valuable activity even with the large survey telescopes as amateurs can obtain data for stars that are too bright for the large telescopes, or for certain types of variable stars where changes are happening rapidly, the survey scopes cannot be dedicated for short cadence observing of a single star.

Monthly Meeting December - Big Science From a Little Country
2022-12-12 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Speaker: Professor Richard Easther

Doing astronomy is as easy as stepping out and looking up. However, ever since Stonehenge astronomy has been at the forefront of what is now called “big science” — branches of knowledge whose development relies on large, shared research facilities rather than individual laboratories. Two examples of this are the European Space Agency’s LISA mission which is slated for launch in the early 2030s, and the Legacy Survey of Space and Time – or LSST – which is currently getting underway at the new Vera Rubin Observatory. New Zealand scientists (including me and my group) are contributing to LISA and the LSST and I will explain what we hope that this will tell us about the universe. And I’ll talk about how little countries like New Zealand can contribute to big projects, how we can get involved, and what we get out of it.

Astrophotography Group December - Optimising PHD2 Guiding - 65 Tips and Tricks to get better Guiding with PHD2.
2022-12-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
It will be of special interest to Kumeu users of PHD2 because some of those tips and tricks were derived from Kumeu experience.

Tony Cooper

Practical Astronomy December - The Summer Night Sky
2022-12-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This will be one of our quarterly reviews of the seasonal Night Sky. This will be held in the Planetarium at the Stardome Observatory. If the weather is clear we will follow with Telescope viewing.

Introduction to Astronomy February 2023
2023-02-06 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
Auckland Astronomical Society Annual Fun Quiz Night!
It’s time we reflect on the topics covered over the previous year and do some revision in the form of a fun-filled quiz. Most importantly, there are loads of chocolates to win!
The Quiz is designed for those who attended all, some or none of the talks during the year, so there’s no excuse to miss out! Come along and have loads of fun reviewing the main points of each monthly session.
Eight multiple-choice questions, each designed to lead into a brief teaching discussion, will include the topics: Measuring Distances In Space Parts I & II, The James Webb Space Telescope, The Hazards of Human Spaceflight to Mars, Hunting Massive Stars, The Expanding Universe and Life In The Solar System Parts I & II.
We look forward to seeing you all there ready for chocolate!
Please note while the Stardome is undergoing renovations, our venue will be
The Lynfield Room at the Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, 1042
This meeting will also be live-streamed on the AAS YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/c/AucklandAstronomicalSociety

Monthly Meeting February - Auckland Astronomical Society, The First 100 Years.
2023-02-20 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
In this meeting, Society Vice President Dr Grant Christie will do a presentation on the significant events of the first 100 years of the Auckland Astronomical Society.
Venue Address
As the Stardome Observatory is closed for renovations, the meeting will be held at the Fickling Convention Centre.
546 Mt Albert Road,
Three Kings,
Auckland 1042
