Young Astronomers Group August
2024-08-12 19:00 - 20:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Have you ever sat down on your balcony and gazed up at the skies and asked questions? Such as what happens if I get sucked into a black hole? Why are some stars red and some are blue? Is there life on any other planets? Why does Saturn have rings? Did you know that every star has its own story?
Come and join us for a fun session where we will discover the answers! We will explore the myths one by one from our familiar Sun to mysterious galaxies far far away! And we will explore planets with an endless desert or a giant gas ball with beautiful rings. Whether you’re a kickstarter of astronomy or a junior expert, there is a place for all of you.

Practical Astronomy August
2024-08-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Names and Catalogues
In this talk we will be discussing the IAU naming conventions for celestial objects along with the star and deep sky catalogues commonly encountered by amateur astronomers.
The Messier Catalogue

Film Night August
2024-08-26 20:00 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We are running two films tonight on our Solar System
We look forwards to seeing you there.

We are Star Dust & Everything we see is in the Past | Astronomical Space Documentary Episodes 1 & 2

Damon Scotting spent six years making this very engaging documentary. We are viewing episodes 1 & 2 of 6

The Search for Alien Life | BBC The Sky at Night

The Sky at Night team investigate the latest science in the hunt for extraterrestrial life. Scientists have never been more obsessed …

Introduction to Astronomy September 2024
2024-09-02 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Planets & Moons of the Solar System Through Modern Eyes
Tonight, we will review the Solar System’s eight planets, exploring their general and exciting features, including new ideas on how Mercury acquired a large iron core and the special features of many moons. We’ll then discuss why we see four minor rocky inner planets and four giant gas/ice outer planets, including recent supercomputer simulations showing new insights into how the migratory movements of the giant planets in the early Solar System shaped the dichotomy we see today.
If you’re interested in current ideas on the planets, moons and the Solar System, this talk is for you! We look forward to seeing you all there.
This meeting will also be live-streamed on the AAS YouTube channel.
https://www.youtube.com/c/AucklandAstronomicalSociety

Monthly Meeting September
2024-09-09 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
District Court Judge Alan Goodwin, the Author of the novel Greene Lyon, will discuss his book on Sir Isaac Newton.
The novel tells the ‘true’ story of Isaac Newton and the falling apple, one of the great historical myths. The book combines real aspects of Newton’s life with entirely fictionalised parts and explores the murky divisions between magic beliefs and early scientific discovery. The story centres around Newton’s obsessions and secretive nature. He wants to understand the universe, which he believes is the manifestation of God’s power, but is haunted by darker impulses and a passion for Alice Cutler, a girl from his youth, who bears the mark of a witch. When Alice’s life is threatened by a witch finder, Isaac’s life unravels, driving him to scientific creation and a choice to banish Alice with fatal consequences.
Born in England in 1963, Alan Goodwin was educated at Friends’ School, a Quaker school, in Saffron Walden, Essex, before taking a degree in Social Science. When qualified as a solicitor, he practised Criminal and Family law in West London. In 1994 Alan emigrated to New Zealand and worked for many years at Corban Revell Lawyers in West Auckland where he became a managing partner of the firm. From 2011 to 2016 he worked as a barrister specialising in Family law, acting for parties and working as a Lawyer for Child. Over the years he presented at legal seminars and conferences. In 2016 Alan was appointed as a District Court Judge, sitting in the Family and Criminal courts in Manukau, Auckland. Writing has been Alan’s passion since he was a teenager; he is also an avid reader with an enduring love of both fiction and non-fiction, especially history and biography. He has a particular interest in science, its history and impact on the way we live. When not reading and writing, or enjoying family time, Alan is a keen follower of sports, especially football (he is a lifelong supporter of Tottenham Hotspur) and has also coached over the years. Greene Lyon is Alan’s second novel. His previous publications are Gravity’s Chain, HarperCollins, 2006, and Working with Psychologists, co-authored with Llewelyn Richards-Ward, New Zealand Law Society, 2002.
The book can be purchased at https://quentinwilsonpublishing.com/product/greene-lyon-a-novel-by-alan-goodwin/

Astrophotography Group September
2024-09-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Astrophotopgraphy Show-and-Tell
Please do feel free to bring all your favourite and best astrophotos on USB drive, to share with the attendees.
The provided system has industrial-grade antivirus software, to protect data integrity.
Please also do feel free to provide all the details of location, camera, processing, and your experience.

Unguided Dobsonian-mount Newtonian Digital Astrophotography
– How to take an off-the-cuff snapshot with your smartphone, with and without a smartphone mount
– F/ratio considerations
– Digital guidance for faint stuff – the freeware Astrohopper
– The optimum eyepiece focal length for planets
– The optimum eyepiece focal length for bright deep-sky objects
– Inexpensive CMOS cameras for instruments of 4″ – 8″ aperture
– Getting serious – CMOS cameras for instruments of 8″ aperture and up
– The limit of the state of the art

Martin La Grange

Practtical Astronomy September
2024-09-16 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Spring Night Sky
This will be one of our quarterly planetarium sessions where we will review the Spring Night Sky. The the weather is suitable we will follow the meeting with telescope observing.

Monthly Meeting October - Black Holes and the Technology to Find Them
2024-10-14 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The population of black holes, objects left over from dead stars, is almost entirely unexplored. Only about two dozen black holes are confidently known in our Galaxy. As a result, some of the most basic properties of black holes remain unknown, including the true number of black holes in the Galaxy, their masses and sizes, and how the black holes were formed. Dr. Lu discusses how she and other astronomers are using “gravitational lensing” — something predicted by Einstein’s work — to open a new window onto black holes, and how the first free-floating black holes are now being discovered. She explains, in everyday language, why astronomers expect that the number of known black holes will increase by a factor of 100 over the next decade.
Talk by Dr. Jessica Lu (University of California, Berkeley)
This is a rebroadcast of one of the SVA Lecture Series.
The meeting will be followed by supper.

Practical Astronomy October - Telescope Mounts
2024-10-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month’s talk will be about the various types of telescope mounting systems and how they are used.

Film Night October
2024-10-28 20:00 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We are running one full length film tonight. We look forwards to seeing you there.

The film we are playing tonight covers many different subjects. It looks at SpaceX Projects, Space Communications, how partnerships with private companies like Boeing and SpaceX are reshaping space travel and much more. This is a well put together, very interesting film.

Monthly Meeting November -Dot to Dot in the Sky – The Nature of Night
2024-11-11 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Early cultures sought connections between what happened on Earth and what occurred overhead. They told stories to explain the stars, auroras, and other night sky phenomena. Discover legends of the night sky, as well as the relationship between art, science, and nature in our Earth-sky environment.
Joan Marie Galat is an award-winning author in Canada who shares her love of the night sky in books that include the Dot to Dot in the Sky series, Dark Matters—Nature’s Reaction to Light Pollution, and the National Geographic Kids title: Absolute Expert: Space. Joan’s 2024 release—Make Your Mark, Make a Difference—includes issues relating to outer space and the night sky. Visit www.joangalat.com for additional information.

Astrophotography Group November
2024-11-18 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Comet stacking and other features of Deep Sky Stacker with Eric Chiu.

Practical Astronomy November - Variable Stars
2024-11-18 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
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 - Exploring the Gravitational Wave Universe
2024-12-09 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Measuring gravitational waves is a revolutionary new way to do astronomy. They were predicted by Einstein, but it was not until 2015, that LIGO (the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory) first detected one of these waves. They were tiny ripples in space itself, generated by the collision of two black holes. Since then, LIGO and its international partners have measured nearly 100 signals. Dr. Lantz explains what we can learn from these bursts of energy and just how it is possible to measure a wave which stretches our detector 1000 times less than the diameter of a proton. And he discusses what’s coming next in our search for these tell-tale ripples in space?
Dr. Lantz is the scientific leader for the Advanced LIGO seismic isolation system.
This will be a rebroadcast of one of the Silicaon Valley Lecture Series.

Practical Astronomy - The Summer Night Sky
2024-12-16 20:15 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This will be one of our quarterly planetarium sessions where we will review the Summer Night Sky using the Planetarium.

Monthly Meeting February - Touching the Sun
2025-02-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Despite its familiarity, the Sun is a very different presence from the friendly yellow circle in children’s paintings. Our star is a broiling mass of plasma, with its powerful magnetic fields, twisted by its rotation, capable of producing dramatic events of spectacular beauty and power. Using results from NASA’s Parker Solar Probe – the fastest moving human-made object ever – and ESA’s Solar Orbiter, this spectacular lecture takes a new look at the mysteries of the Sun, and its effects on the Earth.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 15th January 2024 at Conway Hall, London
Chris is Gresham Professor of Astronomy.
He is also a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.

Practical Astronomy
2025-02-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Telescopes and Accessories
This month we will be talking about the various types of telescopes and commonly used accessories.

Introduction to Astronomy March 2025
2025-03-03 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
NASA’s Europa Clipper Mission to Jupiter
Late last year, NASA launched a mission to Jupiter’s moon, Europa, in search of its potential to host life. Tonight, Chris Benton will discuss why NASA chose Europa and what special features attract astronomers and astrobiologists to such a mission. Come along and also learn about the spacecraft, how it will use gravitational assist manoeuvres to reach its destination, its various instruments and the science to be performed.

Monthly Meeting March - Observing with the James Webb Space Telescope: Glimpsing the First Stars
2025-03-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Dr. Dan Coe (Space Telescope Science Institute)
Observing with the James Webb Space Telescope: Glimpsing the First Stars
The Webb Telescope was designed to look back in time, to study the first generation of stars, and reveal our cosmic origins. Now in its second year of operation, JWST has already brought us tantalizingly close to our dream of seeing those first stars. Dr. Coe takes us on a profusely illustrated tour of some of the best images and latest results from the telescope, and tells us about his and others’ observations of the most distant stars and galaxies astronomers have ever seen, providing a view of the universe as it was 13 billion years ago.
This is a rebroadcast of one of the Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture Series.

Practical Astronomy March - The Autumn Night SKy
2025-03-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This will be one of our quarterly planetarium sessions where we will review the Autumn Night Sky using the Planetarium.

Monthly Meeting April - Astrophotography with Rolf Olsen
2025-04-14 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Astrophotography with Rolf Olsen
This week, we are privileged to have world-renowned astrophotographer Rolf Olsen share his expertise with us, discussing his observatory setup, workflow overview, and latest projects.
His many international achievements include the first amateur detection of light echoes from Eta Carina and Supernova 1987A, and the circumstellar disc around Beta Pictoris. Six of his images have been featured as NASA’s Astronomical Picture of the Day, and he has worked in collaboration with three professional astronomy teams for scientific purposes. He will also showcase and discuss his incredible Cantaurus A 320h image and his involvement with the Hubble Ultra Deep Field study.
His website for further information is https://www.rolfolsenastrophotography.com/
We look forward to seeing you all there for this special evening, which promises to be one not to be missed!

Practical Astronomy April 2025 - Deep Sky Objects for the Dark Sky weekend
2025-04-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month we will be reviewing some deep sky objects well positioned for observing at the Anzac weekend dark sky observing event at the Waharau regional park.

Film Night May 2025
2025-05-12 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Star by HG Wells.

While it is fiction, it’s Astronomical SF of the very best sort, set in the late 19th Century, when our understanding of multi-body dynamics was getting very good. The animations are made using AI, which is no bad thing – the enthusiasts created it saved a fortune in animating it that way.

Then, this will be followed by Gliese 710 and its expected entry into the Solar System millennia from now.
A short slide show of nearby stars, just to get a grip on what’s in the Local Fluff.

Pratical Astronomy May - Introduction to Astrophotography
2025-05-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This talk will cover the basics for getting started with Astrophotography, including cameras, mounts, optics and image processing

Monthly Meeting May - The search for Takapō Meteorite
2025-05-26 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
The search and finding of the Takapō Meteorite and what we have since learnt about it. And Fireballs Aotearoa’s activities over the last year including the search for the Mahoe Meteorite.

Steve Wyn-Harris is a sheep and beef farmer in Central Hawkes Bay. He wrote a weekly national rural column for nearly three decades and has been a broadcaster for as long. He is on the executive of Fireballs Aotearoa, the meteorite search co-ordinator and media liaison for the organization. In 2023 he was awarded an ONZM for services to farming and rural communities.

Steve has also published a children’s book: ‘The Day I Crashed to Earth’ (target audience 5-13) about the finding of the Takapō Meteorite and for $20 anyone is welcome to a copy!

Introduction to Astronomy June 2025
2025-06-02 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Stellar & Exoplanetary Spectroscopy
Learning to Read the Light
Tonight, you will learn how astronomers read the light from stars to measure their temperature, composition, rotation and much more, plus the atmospheres of distant exoplanets.
We start by explaining how and why atoms absorb and emit light at specific wavelengths before discussing how a prism splits light into its various colours to determine a star’s many properties. This will include a demonstration of a prism and calculating our Sun’s surface temperature, plus images and step-by-step analysis of spectra taken with a local amateur spectrograph. Our discussions will then delve deeper into measuring magnetic fields and surface gravity of stars using this simple technique, before discussing the process and frustrations with analysing the atmospheres of planets beyond our solar system.
Come along and see how you can take some of these measurements yourself. This session is for everyone, from beginners to experienced members, who want to learn more about reading the light from stars and other objects.

Monthly Meeting June
2025-06-09 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Matariki – Ngā Whetū o te Tau Hou / The Stars of the New Year
Join us at Stardome as we celebrate Matariki in 2025— a time of remembrance, reflection, and renewal under the rising stars of the Māori New Year.
In this immersive planetarium experience, you’ll journey through the night sky to explore the Matariki star cluster and its importance in Aotearoa and te ao Māori. Discover the rich purākau (stories), science, and traditions connected to each of the nine whetū, learn about the Maramataka (the Māori lunar calendar), and reflect on how Matariki guides us through the cycles of the year along with many other significant stars.
Whether you’re reconnecting with Matariki or experiencing it for the first time, this show is a great way to honour the season and gain a deeper appreciation of Māori astronomy and our place within the cosmos.
Mānawatia a Matariki!

Practical Astronomy June - The Winter Night Sky
2025-06-16 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
This will be one of our seasonal Planetarium sessions, where will will review the constellations and deep sky objects of the Winter Night Sky.

Monthly Meeting July
2025-07-14 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
The JWST is the most expensive and powerful telescope astronomers have ever constructed. Its launch in 2021 started a new phase in our exploration of the cosmos, with the observatory’s golden mirrors producing instantly iconic images of the Solar System’s giant planets, nearby star-forming regions and galaxies, and our distant universe. The lecture includes the latest news from its studies of the early universe, a place lit up by what appears to have been a much more spectacular burst of activity than anyone expected.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 28th May 2025 at Conway Hall, London
Chris is Gresham Professor of Astronomy.
He is also a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.

Practical Astronomy July - Sky Charting Software
2025-07-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Sky Charting software can be used for planning your observing sessions, previewing sky events and even telescope and dome control control. They are also a great educational resource for learning and gaining understanding of some of the jargon used in astronomy. We will use the Open Source desktop application Stellarium to investigate some of these features and also demonstrate the use of a mobile device using the Sky Safari app.
