Auckland Astronomical Society Inc

Practical Astronomy - July
2020-07-27 20:00 - 22:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
TBA

Introduction to Astronomy - August with Peter Felhofer
2020-08-03 20:00 - 22:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
“There is something odd about time” – Albert Einstein
With the understanding that the speed of light is constant for all observers, Einstein conducted one of his famous thought experiments using an imaginary ‘Light clock’ and uncovered the counter intuitive nature of Special Relativity.
In this presentation I review our basis for measuring time and explore how that might be different when leaving the comfort of Earth,before venturing into the strangeness Einstein found and heading toward 2018 where the ‘Light Clock’ became a real and its revelations due to General Relativity.

Junior Group Meeting - August with Margaret Arthur
2020-08-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Junior Group for younger members discusses current topics in space exploration and astronomy.

Monthly Meeting August - The Whole Story — 13.8 Billion Years of Expansion and 100 Years of Science in Under an Hour with Professor Richard Easther.
2020-08-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
with Professor Richard Easther.
Cosmology is the scientific study of the origin and evolution of the universe. Modern cosmology began in the 1920s with the discovery of mathematical descriptions of the expanding universe along with the first observational evidence that our universe is – in fact – expanding. So, while the universe seems to be 13.8 billion years old, human beings saw the first hints that it began with Big Bang itself almost 100 years ago. I will give a quick tour of where our understanding of cosmology is today and where it might be heading as the field approaches the end of its first Century. The talk will not be technical.
Professor Easther grew up in New Zealand, and was educated at the University of Canterbury. After graduating with his PhD 1994, he held post-doctoral fellowships at Waseda University in Japan and at Brown and Columbia Universities in the United States.
He was a professor at Yale University from 2004 until the end of 2011, when he returned to New Zealand. He is now professor and Head of the Department of Physics here at the University of Auckland.

Practical Astronomy and Astrophotography Group August - The moon is big, our cameras are small with Stephen Dean.
2020-08-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
The moon is big, our cameras are small.
August’s group will be presented by Stephen Dean.
“Taking an image of the Moon with a high focal length telescope and a planetary camera is a great way to get a lot of detail, unfortunately this combination also results in a rather small field of view which makes taking an image of the whole Moon a rather tedious and time consuming process.
Record a video, move the mount, record a video, move the mount… What if this process could be automated?
That’s exactly what “Moon Panorama Maker” does.
MoonPanoramaMaker covers the current Moon phase with an optimal grid of single views and automatically steers the telescope mount and camera during their exposure.
In this talk I’ll be going through the basics of setting up and using Moon Panorama Maker with Firecapture.”

Film Night - August - Cancelled due to Covid19
2020-08-24 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Cancelled.

Introduction to Astronomy: Cosmic X-ray Astronomy – Historic Milestones 1960 to 1980
2020-09-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
Cosmic X-ray Astronomy – Historic Milestones 1960 to 1980

With Chris Benton
Observations of the universe in X-ray wavelengths with modern technologically advanced observatories is essential to understanding a diverse array of astrophysical objects and processes. Cosmic X-ray astronomy’s rich and early history from the 1960s and 1970s, however, is often neglected. This presentation identifies the pioneers, and principle observatories, technologies and discoveries over this period leading to the Chandra X-ray Observatory and XMM-Newton Observatory that still operate today.
Youtube Link: https://astronomy.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=c73059aa79138e65ba47252c7&id=562188951c&e=465980bd9e

Monthly Meeting September - The Accelerating Universe: A personal journey with Professor Brian J. Boyle
2020-09-14 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
The Auckland Astronomical Society are privileged to host this talk for the September monthly meeting.
Professor Brian J. Boyle.
From my perspective as a team member, I recount the early days of The Supernova Cosmology Project which lead to the discovery of the accelerating Universe in 1998. I discuss the many observational challenges faced and reflect on lessons learned for ambitious projects in a skeptical community.

Now retired and settled in New Zealand, Dr Brian J. Boyle is a Scottish astrophysicist who was based in Australia since 1996. His primary research interests are in the fields of quasars, active galaxies and cosmology.
He was involved in science-direction setting in Australia for over 15 years, contributing the mid-term review in 2000, leading the development of the Australian Astronomy Decadal Plan ] and facilitating the development of the Optical and Radio Astronomy Investment Plan for the National Collaborative Research Infrastructure Strategy in 2007.
He was awarded the Centenary Medal for services to Australian Astronomy in 2003 and elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2006.
Boyle was CSIRO SKA Director as well as the Project Director for the Australia–New Zealand SKA bid. In these roles he played a major part both nationally and internationally in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) program; a project to build the world’s largest cm-wavelength radio telescope.
Some career highlights:
Conceived and built the Australian SKA Pathfinder.
Secured Australia’s co-hosting of the international SKA project.
Awarded Public Service Medal in 2012 Australia Day Honours for this work
Awarded CSIRO Chairman’s medal in 2016.
Conceived and implemented the external Instrumentation program at the AAO.
Positioned AAO as most cited ground-based astronomical telescope in 1998-2003.
Awarded Centenary Medal in 2003 for this work
Founding Member of the Supernova Cosmology Team that discovered cosmic acceleration
– Nobel Prize for Physics awarded to Team Leader (Saul Perlmutter) in 2011.
– Awarded Gruber Prize for Cosmology in 2009.
– Awarded Breakthrough Prize for Fundamental Physics in 2014.

Practical Astronomy/Asrophotography - Imaging Mars
2020-09-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
With Mars opposition coming up in mid October, Shaun Fletcher will explain his imaging and processing techniques for the planet Mars.
We have postponed the Planetarium Spring Night Sky review. This will hopefully be able to proceed for the October meeting.

AAS Youtube Channel – Live Monday 21 Sep 8pm

Introduction to Astronomy - October 2020
2020-10-05 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
The Andromeda Galaxy Halo – Discoveries from a recent study

Our nearest large spiral galaxy, Andromeda, is surrounded by an immense halo of gas. Recently, a group of astronomers, using the Hubble Space Telescope, studied light from distant quasars to characterise and map this gas out to two million light-years from the galaxy.
Tonight’s online talk by Chris Benton discusses Andromeda and how it relates to The Milky Way galaxy in The Local Group cluster. A review of main galaxy types and their general structure follows along with an overview of quasars and their central role in astronomical studies. A summary of the Andromeda galaxy halo study results then precedes comments on the significance of these new findings.
Join us online to review the basics of galaxies, The Local Group and quasars, followed by current knowledge on the halos of spiral galaxies. See how the inevitable Andromeda-Milky Way galaxy-merger is now underway!

Planetarium Review -The Spring Night Sky
2020-10-12 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This event has been rescheduled from the September Practical Astronomy night. This will be a Planetarium session where we will review the Spring Night Sky.

Astrophotography Group October
2020-10-19 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
We will review and discuss all Mars images submitted here during the opposition and I will award the prize for the best. I will also lead a discussion over getting started with spring deep sky imaging.

Practical Astronomy October - Telescopes and Accessories
2020-10-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This talk will cover Telescopes and Accessories along with their care and maintenance. Will include basic optical collimation and cleaning of optics.
Weather permitting we will follow the Practical Astronomy session with EWB telescope viewing.

Film Night October - The Quasar Enigma
2020-10-26 20:00 - 21:30 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Quasar Enigma is a documentary about how Quasars are formed and their effect on star formation.
The main film is 50 minutes long and will be followed by the July 2020 Sky at Night show – “Stars, a matter of life and death” (30 minutes long).

Introduction to Astronomy - Gravity
2020-11-02 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Gravity is the natural phenomenon of a perceived attractive force experienced between bodies of mass. We take it for granted, while it holds us to the Earth, keeps the Moon in orbit around the Earth, and the planets around the Sun. Tonight Chris Benton will outline the valuable insights and descriptions of gravity given by Galileo, Newton and Einstein used to explain what gravity is and how it works.
Galileo dropped balls from the Tower of Pisa and ramps concluding gravity accelerates objects of different mass by the same amount, known as the Equivalence Principle. Newton had the insight to realise the force of gravity that makes things fall to the ground on Earth is the same force responsible for the orbital motion of the planets and moons in the Solar System leading to his Universal Law of Gravitation. Einstein expanded on the Equivalence Principle to develop his General Theory of Relativity involving mass warping spacetime to explain gravity. It successfully predicts black holes, the bending of light and slowing of clocks in the presence of matter, and other phenomena.
We look forward to you all coming along to an easy to understand, in-depth explanation of these concepts before hearing John Wishart speak, who has an interest in quantum gravity. John will describe how, at microscopic levels, General Relativity breaks down, leading to new exciting theories involving quantum mechanics. You should not miss this presentation, which has something for everyone!

Burbidge Dinner 2020
2020-11-07 18:30 - 22:00 | Ellerslie Events Center
Our guest speaker this year is University of Auckland Associate Professor JJ Eldridge, who will give a presentation on Margaret and Geoffrey Burbidge and their contribution to the understanding of the origin of the chemical elements by stellar nucleosynthesis.
We will also announce the results of the New Zealand Astrophotography Competition for the Harry Williams Trophy and the Beaumont prize for the best member submitted article to the AAS Journal.
The Venue is the : Ellerslie Events Centre, Pakuranga Hunt Room
Start time: 7:00pm (doors open 6:30pm)
Tickets: $65 pp, earlybird price of $60.00 is available until October 31. Includes a buffet dinner.

Tickets can be booked: -by e-mail at events@astronomy.org.nz-by phone to Niven on 021 935 261 or Bill on 021 225 8175

Monthly Meeting November
2020-11-09 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Music and Astronomy.

We will talk about mathematical and psycho-physical foundations of music; what makes it beautiful — tones, octaves, intervals, consonances, and cords; about types of musical instruments, temperaments, and the art of musical tuning. From this we will draw connection to the “sounds” and harmony of the Cosmos, discuss problems of resonances and stability of planetary systems, motions of moons and geometry of rings. Together we will try to discover the unique “melody” of our Solar system. I’ll use my violin to illustrate my talk.
Our speaker, Sergei Gulyaev, is Professor of Astronomy and Space Science and Director of the Institute for Radio Astronomy and Space Research at Auckland University of Technology.

Northern Star Party 2020 - Instructions and Programme- Sold Out
2020-11-13 16:00 - 2020-11-15 11:00 | Waharau Regional Park, 1748 East Coast Rd, Orere Point, Whakatiwai, 2473
Dark Sky Weekend _ Northern Star Party – Instructions for attendees and Programme. This event is Sold Out.
Waharau Outdoor Education Centre
Waharau Regional Park
1748 E Coast Rd, Orere Point, Whakatiwa 2473.
November 13th to 15th 2020
What you must bring:

Your own food. There is a kitchen and walk in fridge and the AAS will provide morning and afternoon tea and milk but otherwise it is BYO for food and drink. With over 50 people in attendance, keeping it simple will be the best way to ensure there’s not a mad rush in the kitchen at meal times.
Bedding, sleeping bag, pillow, toiletries, towel etc. The dormitories have bunk beds and

mattresses.

Your telescope, binoculars etc or just your eyes and, if required, power supply, preferably

battery powered. There will be telescopes available for viewing for those who don’t have a telescope.

Warm clothes for evenings in keeping with the weather forecast!!!
Red torch or red headlamp. Once it’s dark, white lights need to be eliminated as much as

possible (Red torches can be purchased from most supermarkets for about $20 if you want to buy one).

Please bring a tea towel!!!!
A cooperative attitude and willingness to lend a hand to keep the venue clean and tidy.
Parking – If you are not staying on the site or plan on leaving early please do not park near the telescope viewing area, but near the exit road.

Please note: Dogs and other pets are prohibited from the Park.
What will be provided:

The AAS will provide morning and afternoon tea and milk.
Cooking utensils, pots and pans, crockery and cutlery.
Cleaning equipment, toilet paper and rubbish bags.
First Aid equipment.
Hand sanitizer and some masks.

When leaving on Sunday please clean your cabin and ensure that it is left clean and tidy. Your co-operation in this will be greatly appreciated. Volunteers are needed for the final inspection clean up at 11 am Sunday – all help would be gratefully received.

Programme
Friday 13th November. Open from 4pm.
6.30pm One hour science documentary film.
Telescope viewing once dark. Another Film will be shown if cloudy.
Saturday 14h November
12 noon. Carolle Varughese speaking on what can be seen in the November Night Sky.
12.40 Chris Benton – Deep Sky objects.
1.25 Break.
1.45pm to 2.45 to Basic Astrophotography panel discussion with Robert Patterson, Gavin Logan and George Ionas.
3.00pm to 4.30 pm ASTRONZ equipment presentation during which they will display and explain how to use various telescopes and accessories.
4.35 pm. Group Photo
4.45 Telescope trail – a chance to look at telescopes that have been brought to Waharau. Saturday
Evening: once its dark Telescope viewing.
Astronomy Films will be shown should the sky become cloudy.
Sunday 15th November
11am – final clean up and inspection – volunteers needed to help with final clean up.

Astrophotography Group November
2020-11-16 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Tony Cooper will be giving a talk/demo on how to build a DIY Motorised Focuser for $25- Reasons for using a motorised focuser
– Parts list
– Stepper motors
– Timing belts
– Arduino programming
– ASCOM
– Three axis balancing of a German equatorial mount
– Demonstration of the focuser in action

Practical Astronomy November - Astrophotography - Getting started
2020-11-16 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month we will be discussing astrophotography for beginners. This will include an introduction to the different types of astrophotography, cameras, techniques, equipment and computer software.

Film Night November - Mars Habitat
2020-11-23 20:00 - 21:30 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Mars Habitat – a series of shorter films about the latest developments and ideas about manned travel to Mars.

Introduction to Astronomy December 2020 Quiz
2020-12-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Auckland Astronomical Society Fun Christmas Quiz Night!

It’s that time when we reflect on the topics covered over the past year and do some revision in the form of a fun-filled quiz. Most importantly, there are loads of chocolates to win!
Come along and have loads of fun recalling what you have learned this year and review the main points of each monthly session. 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!
The ten multiple-choice questions, each designed to lead into a teaching discussion, will include the topics: Space Telescopes, Red Dwarfs, Supernovae, Stellar Corpses, Nucleosynthesis, Gravity, The Andromeda Galaxy and The History of X-Ray Astronomy.
We look forward to seeing you all there ready for chocolate!

Monthly Meeting December -
2020-12-14 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month two University of Auckland PHD students will tell us about their research,
Observing Transients in Simulated Universes with Max Briel and Gravitational Waves with Petra Tang
Observing Transients in Simulated Universes
Transients are short, on an astronomical timescale, duration events compared to the evolution of galaxies and
stars. Two main types are gravitational wave (GW) events and supernovae. Supernovae, explosion at the end of a
stars life, have been measured for centuries, but gravitational waves from the merger of two compact objects,
were only measured for the first time in 2015. The rate of both of these events relate to the amount of stars being
formed over the history of the Universe and the evolution of binary star systems. Using stellar population synthesis
and cosmological simulation of the Universe, we predict the number of transients taking place in our Universe.
Born and raised in the Netherlands, Max Briel studied physics, maths, and computer science as part of his Liberal
Arts and Sciences Bachelor, which he was awarded with highest honours in 2013. As part of the neutrino detection
collaboration, he finished his Masters at the University of Amsterdam in Physics and Astronomy with a research
project on muonic event reconstruction in the KM3NeT detector. Since 2020 he’s a PhD student at the University of
Auckland. There, he works on the properties of gravitational wave and supernovae’s host galaxies.
Gravitational Waves
Gravitational waves propagate through space and carry information about the history of our Universe, helping us
understand the unknown part of the Universe. The Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) is a gravitational
wave observatory in space, and it is used to detect the milihertz band of the GW signals. In her research Petra re-
constructs the spectral density of the stochastic gravitational wave background of mock LISA signals, hoping to
identify LISA’s detection capability. In this talk she introduces LISA’s unique setup, explains the method she uses to
construct the spectrum profile, presents some of her results and explains the next step for her PhD
Petra Tang is a current PhD student studying gravitational waves. She did her Masters at the University of Auckland
supervised by AP Jan Eldridge. Prior to that she taught Maths in a secondary school for 6 years. She loves science
and education, and loves sharing her knowledge of the stars with others.

Astrophotography Group December
2020-12-21 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand

Practical Astronomy - The Summer Night Sky
2020-12-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This will be one of our planetarium sessions where we will review the Summer night sky. If the weather is clear we will follow up with observing the great conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn and other objects. Otherwise we will screen a short planetarium show to finish up the programme for 2020.

Introduction to Astronomy February 2021
2021-02-01 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Dark Energy and the Acceleration of the Universe
by guest speaker Jonathan Park
Early in the 20th century, the consensus was that the Milky Way was the whole universe and that the universe was static (neither expanding nor contracting). By 1931, it had been established that the Milky Way was only one galaxy of many and that the universe was not static, but expanding. Then, in 1998, a remarkable discovery was made: the universe is not only expanding, but this expansion is speeding up! The best explanation for this is “dark energy” – a mysterious energy which has a repulsive gravity effect and currently makes up over two-thirds of the universe. In this introductory talk, Jonathan will discuss how we know the universe is accelerating, how we know how much dark energy there is in the universe, and what dark energy might be. The discussion will finish with two possible scenarios for the end of the universe.
This is a fascinating and hot topic of cosmology and one not to be missed. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Monthly Meeting February - Planet Nine from Outer Space
2021-02-08 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Dr. Michael Brown (Caltech)
Nov. 11, 2020
Dr. Brown discusses the history of planetary discovery (and demotion), why we think a new, larger Planet 9 is on the verge of being found, and the techniques that we are using to try to find this very faint body lurking in the far reaches of our planetary system.
This is a rebroadcast of a recent Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture.
The meeting will be followed by supper.

Astrophotography Group February
2021-02-15 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Topics in Astrophotography

Practical Astronomy - Names and Catalogues
2021-02-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Online
This talk will discuss Astronomical nomenclature, the common catalogues of stars and deep sky objects used by amateur astronomers and the information to be found in them.
If the sky is clear, the talk will be followed by telescope viewing using the EWB Zeiss telescope.

Introduction to Astronomy March 2021
2021-03-01 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
What is Dark Matter?
The Evidence, the Candidates and the Search
If you are interested in how the Universe appears and behaves on large scales, you will enjoy this essential talk. Attendees will also receive a ten-page handout on dark matter covering the discussion and expanding on selected points.
85% of the matter in the Universe is elusive dark matter that we cannot directly observe, but presence is seen through its effects on the surrounding environment. Tonight, Chris Benton discusses compelling evidence for dark matter and its importance in the structure and evolution of the Universe. Following this, an outline of dark matter’s apparent properties leads into identifying the candidate particles and the experiments designed to detect them.
We look forward to seeing you all there along with your family and friends.
