Auckland Astronomical Society Inc

Monthly Meeting September - Astronomical Displays
2023-09-11 20:00 - 21:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
My mission is to engage people with the science that is going on in the world around them. I develop activities and hands-on physical displays that spark curiosity and creativity. You will have seen some of my interactive works in Stardome’s amazing new exhibition gallery that explores space and connects visitors to the night sky. I will talk you through my creative journey and you will see how my aim of displaying patterns and cycles has resulted in these interactives that often reveal some unexpected connections. I’ll talk about some of the Stardome interactives: The Tellurion; The Moon Phases over Maungakiekie; The Tohu monthly star markers; and Pacific navigation.
Plus I’ll have some slightly crazy prototypes for you to play with, a chaotic glow in the dark pendulum, a clock that shows the phase of the moon driven by the tide and an Aotearoa-centric armillary sphere.
Doug Makinson

Young Astronomers Group
2023-09-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Young Astronomers Group discuss topics in Astronomy and Space Exploration. The topic for this month will be comets.

Introduction to Astronomy
2023-09-04 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Man’s Future on Earth and in Space
Guest Speaker – Dr Nick Odom
Much is unpredictable, but we can understand a lot about future conditions on Earth by studying conditions in the past. The talk also debunks some commonly held myths about man’s future in space.

Film Night August
2023-08-28 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We have Part 1 of a 2 part film running tonight. Part 1 will run for the full hour. We look forwards to seeing you there.

Mysteries of the Universe | Space Documentary
In the vast expanse of the cosmos, where stars shimmer and galaxies collide, lies a tapestry of mysteries waiting to be unraveled. Get ready to be captivated by the wonders and the biggest mysteries that lie beyond our reach, awaiting discovery in the depths of the universe in this 4K space documentary.
Topics covered in Part 1-
1. Olber’s Paradox (Why is space black?)
2. First Contact

Practical Astronomy August - Care and Maintenance of Telescopes and Accessories
2023-08-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month we will discussing the care and maintenance of telescopes and accessories. We will start with an explanation of eyepieces and barlow lenses and then demonstrate how to safely clean the optical surfaces of lenses and mirrors. We will also explain and demonstrate the collimation of the optics of reflector and catadioptric telescopes.

Monthly Meeting August - Building on the shoulders of giantesses
2023-08-14 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
An often used quote by Isaac Newton is that “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants”. In this talk I’ll discuss how the current work on understanding the sources of gravitational wave transients made when black-hole and neutron stars merger is built on the shoulders of giantesses. These women astronomers, Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Leavitt, Antonia Maury, Cecilia Payne, Erika Böhm-Vitense and Beatrice Tinsley made vital contributions to our understandings of stars that are key to unlocking the secrets of the Universe.

Professor Jan Eldridge, Head of Department of Physics University of Auckland.
I obtained my MA and MSci degrees from the University of Cambridge in 2001. I stayed at the University to study for my PhD in astrophysics at the Institute of Astronomy, graduating in 2005. After this I undertook postdoctoral research at the Institut d’Astrophysics de Paris, Queen’s University Belfast and the Institute of Astronomy. In 2011 I was appointed as a Lecturer of Astrophysics at The University of Auckland.
My research is focused upon the lives and deaths of stars. Most of my work involves the suite of computer codes I have created, the Binary Population and Spectral Synthesis code (BPASS, bpass.auckland.ac.nz). Using BPASS I study stars, supernovae and gravitational wave sources in our own Galaxy out to the edge of the observable Universe.

Young Astronomers August
2023-08-14 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Young Astronomers Group discuss topics in Astronomy and Space Exploration.

Introduction to Astronomy
2023-08-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Our Place In The Universe
Where do we fit in?
Discover our place in the Universe with a visual tour by Chris Benton, starting on Earth before moving out of the Solar System, through the Milky Way galaxy and into clusters of galaxies making up the cosmic web of the Observable Universe before speculating on the size and geometry of the Entire Universe. Structures of unimaginable size put our home planet in perspective. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Film Night July
2023-07-31 20:00 - 21:15 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We have one film running tonight. The film will run for the full hour. We look forwards to seeing you there.

Guides to the Stars | BBC The Sky at Night
The Sky at night team tell us about the stars including excerpts from their series run over the last 50 years. This is a informative and entertaining film, and it comes highly recommended.

2023 Beatrice Hill-Tinsley Lecture - Cosmic Cataclysms, a Dynamic and Changing Universe
2023-07-24 19:00 - 20:00
The RASNZ Lecture Trust is pleased to announce that the 2023 BHT lecturer is Dr Ryan Ridden.
Ryan is an astrophysicist at the University of Canterbury. He studies some of the largest explosions in the Universe that are caused by exploding stars, colliding stars, and hungry black holes. To study these extreme objects, he uses space telescopes like TESS, and the Hubble Space Telescope, as well as some of the largest telescopes on Earth.
Ryan grew up in Christchurch and got his start in astronomy during secondary school, helping the Canterbury Astronomical Society with their public nights. After completing an Honours degree in Mathematical Physics at the University of Canterbury in 2015, he obtained a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics at the Australian National University. During his PhD, he discovered several new cataclysmic variable stars. In 2019, he began a postdoc at the Space Telescope Science Institute, where he built data analysis tools for space telescopes. In 2021 Ryan returned to the University Canterbury and is now leading a research group with the support of a Marsden Fast Start Grant, and a Rutherford Postdoctoral Fellowship. Alongside his research Ryan has given numerous public talks, helped build the Young Stars outreach programme, and produced educational videos on YouTube.
Attendance is free but you need to book tickets via https://ryanridden.eventbrite.co.nz

Practical Astronomy July - Sky Charting Software
2023-07-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
This month we will review some of the available Sky Charting programs and explore how they can be used for planning observations, learning the night sky and for general astronomical education.

Young Astronomers July
2023-07-17 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Young Astronomers Group discuss current topics in Astronomy and Space.
The topic this month is the planet Venus.

Introduction to Astronomy July 2023
2023-07-03 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
The Soviet Space Programme
Our guest speaker, John Burkett, speaks on the Soviet Space Programme during the space race with the USA from the 1950s to the first Moon landing in 1969. Learn from now de-classified documents the names of those involved, what they achieved and how they changed history.

Welcome back to the Stardome
2023-06-26 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
For this meeting we return to the Stardome Observatory and Planetarium. Stardome CEO, Victoria Travers will talk about the new displays and work done on the building. This will be followed by a new Stardome produced Planetarium show on Matariki and the Maori lunar calendar.

Introduction to Astronomy June 2023
2023-06-19 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
A Tourist’s Guide to Titan
by Jonathan Park
Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, has lakes, seas, and rivers on its surface. It rains and snows there, and we can find sand dunes, mountain ranges, and other familiar geographical features. Earth and Titan are the only places in the Solar System where surface liquid can be found. However, on Titan, instead of liquid water, we find liquid methane, and instead of rock, we find ice frozen as hard as granite. The sky is an orange haze of organic molecules, with the occasional methane cloud in summer. The air temperature is a rather cold minus 179 degrees Celsius, and the seas and lakes are just a little cooler. It’s almost like Earth’s super-chilled twin. What would it be like to visit there? We will try to provide a really good idea with the help of computer-generated images. As a tourist, you will encounter some intriguing surprises! So come along and enjoy this tourist’s guide to Titan.

Monthly Meeting June - The Last Star Gazers
2023-06-12 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
A bird that mimicked a black hole. The astronomer that discovered microwave ovens. A telescope that can fly. The science of astronomy is filled with true stories (and tall tales) of the adventures and misadventures that accompany our exploration of the universe. Join Dr. Emily Levesque, author of the critically-acclaimed popular science book The Last Stargazers, to take a behind-the-scenes tour of life as a professional astronomer. We’ll learn about some of the most powerful telescopes in the world, meet the people who run them, and explore the crucial role of human curiosity in the past, present, and future of scientific discovery.
Emily Levesque is an astronomy professor at the University of Washington in Seattle. Her work explores how the most massive stars in the universe evolve and die. She has observed for upwards of fifty nights on many of the planet’s largest telescopes and flown over the Antarctic stratosphere in an experimental aircraft for her research. She is currently a 2022-2023 Fulbright U.S. Scholar at the University of Auckland and her book, The Last Stargazers, was shortlisted for the 2021 Royal Society Science Book prize. She earned a bachelor’s degree in physics from MIT and a PhD in astronomy from the University of Hawaii.

Young Astronomers June
2023-06-12 19:00 - 20:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
Alex will be running an astronomy quiz this month

Public Talk - BBC Sky at Night Presenter, Professor Chris Lintott - How to be surprised by the Universe
2023-06-05 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
How to be surprised by the UniverseDescription: From mysterious radio signals to spectacular supernovae, the Universe keeps finding new ways to astonish us. Chris Lintott (Sky at Night, University of Oxford) explains why we should keep our eyes peeled for the unusual, what to do when you think you’ve found an alien civilisation, and the rules to live by in a spectacular and ever changing Universe.

Biography: Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, where he studies everything from galaxy evolution to interstellar asteroids. Through the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which he leads, and more recent work in machine learning, he tries hard to work out how to make the best of the large volumes of data we receive from the Universe. Best known for his role as co-presenter on the BBC’s long-running Sky at Night program, he is an accomplished speaker and populariser of science, and is looking forward to his second visit to the AAS.

RASNZ Conference 2023
2023-06-02 17:00 - 2023-06-04 14:00
The Auckland Astronomical Society are hosting the 2023 RASNZ Conference over Queen’s Birthday Weekend.
Conference Information can be found at the RASNZ website:
https://www.rasnzconference.org.nz/

Film Night May
2023-05-22 20:00 - 21:15 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
We have two great films running tonight, we look forwards to seeing you there.

Inside Gods Observatory Special | BBC The Sky at Night
The team have been granted rare access to the Vatican and its observatory, the Specola Vaticana, where they explore its rich history and contemporary cutting-edge science.
Presented by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Professor Chris Lintott.
Professor Chris Lintott is also a guest speaker at this years RSANZ Conference.
Please visit https://www.astronomy.org.nz/2023-rasnz-conference for further information about the conference. Note that as a Society member, you are entitled to a discount off the full price of the event.

Why Is Everything Made Of Atoms? | History of the Universe
Building on recent topics covered at our meetings, we are running this easy to follow, and highly entertaining, documentary on atoms.

Practical Astronomy May - Variable Stars
2023-05-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
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 May - Join the Universe: We want YOU to become a Citizen Scientist
2023-05-08 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
Join the Universe: We want YOU to become a Citizen Scientist

I’ll share my journey from a very amateur astronomer to a Citizen Scientist active in the various Unistellar/eVscope network Citizen Science programmes, and to my own asteroid occultation observations. Citizen Science is real science, and my observations have ended up in scientific databases and been included in papers in Nature, the Minor Planet Bulletin and others. Along the way I’ll share some observation highlights from the year, including the DART mission, and I will introduce some of the many facets of Citizen Science astronomy.
There is a whole Universe waiting to be discovered from your sofa or back yard – anyone, with or without equipment, can be a Citizen Scientist.

Michael Camilleri has had a long a varied career in Science and Technology and Data and Analytics. Originally studying Astrophysics (MSc) he switched to Atmospheric Physics (PhD) and built a research career in Climate Change and Energy Efficiency, before leaving the scientific work for the business world of Data and Analytics. After a lifelong casual interest in Astronomy that went no further than binoculars (Astrophysics didn’t require a telescope), I started observing with a small visual telescope during Covid, moved into Electronically Assisted Astronomy (EEA) and ended up with an eVscope which opened up the Citizen Science Universe to me.

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Young Astronomers May 2023
2023-05-08 19:00 - 20:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
In this event, Alex will demonstrate how a black hole works and many other fun things that people can work out! There will also be a quiz with a prize.

Introduction to Astronomy May 2023
2023-05-01 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
The Building Blocks of the Universe
(and how they relate to astronomy)
Guest speaker – Jonathan Park MSc (Astronomy)
This is a fun, basic introduction to how the universe works at the smallest scales. In this talk, we start by describing the structure and size of the atom for anyone new to the topic. You will then be equipped to join the journey down the rabbit hole to the smallest, weirdest particles. After hearing about these intriguing objects, we learn how the building blocks of the universe apply in astronomy. What are cosmic rays? How does the Sun really turn hydrogen into helium to provide sunlight? There are trillions of (harmless) particles from space travelling through you right now – what are they? Whether your knowledge of this topic is limited or if you know all about the tiny particles of the universe, you will be fascinated by this talk.

Film Night April
2023-04-24 20:00 - 21:30 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
We have two great films running tonight, we look forwards to seeing you there.

Are We Alone in the Universe | By Professor Charlie Lineweaver
Charley will present the results of a worldwide survey asking people “Are We Alone?”. He will try to figure out if this question makes any sense…and discuss what the words “we” and “alone” mean.
Charley is one of the guest speakers at this years RSANZ Conference, hosted by the AAS at Waipuna Lodge Conference Centre.

The Search for Alien Life | BBC The Sky at Night 2023
The Sky at Night team investigate the latest science in the hunt for extraterrestrial life.
Presented by Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock and Professor Chris Lintott.
Professor Chris Lintott is also a guest speaker at this years RSANZ Conference.
Please visit https://www.astronomy.org.nz/2023-rasnz-conference for further information about the conference. Note that as a Society member, you are entitled to a discount off the full price of the event.

Practical Astronomy April - Getting Started with Astrophotography
2023-04-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
In this meeting, Eric Chiu will explain how to get started with Astrophotography.

Introduction to Astronomy April 2023
2023-04-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
A Modern Perspective of the Solar System
What’s there and why
The Solar System comprises a central star, eight planets of varying sizes and composition, and three regions of small bodies. Chris Benton will outline a modern perspective of the Solar System structure, then discuss how and why it formed and evolved as it did, explaining what we see today.
Come along and learn why we see four small rocky inner planets, four giant gaseous outer planets, plus collections of asteroids and comets. Furthermore, discover why astronomers demoted Pluto from its status as a planet.
All attendees will receive a comprehensive handout on the topic, changing your view on the Solar System. We look forward to seeing you all there.

Young Astronomers
2023-04-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
The theme for the remainder of the year, is the Solar System.
For this month, I will bring some air dried clay for the people to model a base on Europa. The reason I chose the object is because the project we did last month was chosen to be the moon Europa.
Hope to see you there.
Alex

2023 Annual General Meeting of the Auckland Astronomical Society
2023-04-03 20:00 - 21:30 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
Venue:
Waikowhai Room *
Fickling Convention Centre
546 Mt Albert Rd
Three Kings, Auckland
* Note that the Waikowhai Room is next door to the Lynfield Room, where previous AAS meetings have been held at this venue.
Members are encouraged to attend the meeting.
We will be presenting:

Society Reports, Stardome Report, Astronz Ltd report to the Society.
Election of Officers
Election of AOPTB Appointments Committee representative.
Election of AOPTB representative Trustee.

Film Night
2023-03-27 20:00 - 21:30 | Fickling Convention Centre, 546 Mt Albert Rd, Three Kings, Auckland, 1042
We have two great films running tonight. We look forwards to seeing you there.
How Earth Moves
This is a well worth watching documentary, explaining the movement of the Earth in an easy to understand format.
It gives an easy to understand explanation on the Solstice also clarifying Sidereal time, Julian time and why we use Gregorian time. All relative to “How Earth Moves”

Eight Wonders Of Our Solar System | The Planets | BBC Earth Lab
Discover the most memorable events in the history of our solar system. Travel to the surface of these dynamic worlds to witness the moments of high drama that uniquely shaped each one
