Monthly Meeting April - Little Red Dots
2026-04-13 20:00 - 21:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
100 years ago this year, Edwin Hubble published the first conclusive evidence that there were galaxies beyond the Milky Way. This lecture, using new results from our latest space telescopes and ground-based instruments, surveys the diversity of systems that we’ve found since, from giant and beautiful spirals to mysterious Little Red Dots.
This lecture was recorded by Chris Lintott on 18th March 2026 at Conway Hall, London.
Professor Chris Lintott is a Professor of Astrophysics at the University of Oxford, and a Research Fellow at New College.
Having been educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge and University College London, his research now ranges from understanding how galaxies form and evolve, to using machine learning to find the most unusual things in the Universe, to predicting the properties of visiting interstellar asteroids. He was the founder of the Zooniverse citizen science platform, which provides opportunities for more than two million online volunteers to contribute to scientific research, and which was the topic of his first book, ‘The Crowd and the Cosmos’. His latest book is ‘Our Accidental Universe’.
Professor Lintott is best known for presenting the BBC’s long-running Sky at Night program, and as an accomplished lecturer. Away from work, he cooks, suffers through being a fan of Torquay United and Somerset cricket, and spends time with a rescued lurcher, Mr Max. He can often be found at the helm of Oxford’s science comedy night, ‘Huh, That’s Funny’.

Northern Star Party – April 17th to April 19th 2026
2026-04-17 16:30 - 2026-04-19 11:00
Dark Sky Weekend
We are excited to announce the dates for the Northern Star Party for 2026 to held at Waharau Regional Park and hosted by the Auckland Astronomical Society. We are holding the event over the nights of Friday 17th and Saturday 18th of April. Packing up on the morning of Sunday the 19th.
It will be a weekend of practical astronomy and dark sky observing. It is great opportunity to spend a weekend viewing the sky from a dark site, on Moonless nights, though a range of different telescopes. Bring your telescope or binoculars, but if you don’t have any there will be plenty there for you to look through. Also the society has telescopes available for hire though the hire will have to be set up prior to the camp. For rental enquiries, please email rental@astronomy.org.nz

During the day on Saturday, there will be a full program of practical astronomy – how to use equipment and various types of telescopes, new equipment demonstrations and an astrophotography workshop.
Films will be shown in the early evening on Friday and if appropriate on Saturday.

Prices
Members
Non-members

Early Bird paid by 12th April
$30
$40

Late bookings
$50
$60

No one night price.
To book, please log into Hello Club……….Click here for link.
From the Hello Club page, you will need to log in.
Program:
Friday: Viewing, movie (TBC)
Saturday:
Workshops: 1:00pm to 2:30 pm.
Solar Viewing during the day on Saturday.

Time
Activity
Details

13:00
Dwarf Mini and Dwarf 3 compact Smart Telescopes by Dwarf Lab
This presentation outlines their design, operation, and real-world performance in imaging deep-sky objects. Also covered is tracking, image capture, stacking, processing and using their Stellar Studio processing suite.

14:00 – 14:30
Easy Image Stacking for Beginners

Why stack?
Stacking demonstration
Stacking tips
Survey of stacking software

16:30 – 18:00
Telescope trail
Telescope trail

For the full information pack, click here.
Some possible visual observations on the nights
Some visible with the naked eye, some through small telescope

Practical Astronomy April - Variable Stars
2026-04-20 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
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.

2026 Annual General Meeting
2026-04-27 20:00 - 22:00
The Auckland Astronomical Society 2026 Annual General Meeting. The agenda will include reports from Society Officers, Stardome report, Astronomy NZ Ltd report and election of officers for the AAS Council 2026/2027
All members are encouraged to attend.

Practical Astronomy - The study of Occultations
2026-05-11 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
In this meeting Michael Camilleri will give a presentation on Occultations and what can be learned from them.
An occultation in astronomy is an event where one astronomical object, such as the Moon or a planet, passes in front of another object, like a star, blocking it from view. Measuring precise timing from multiple locations of these events can reveal much information about the occulting object

Monthly Meeting May - Rocks from Space
2026-05-18 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Rocks from Space
with Professor Jonti Horner
Jonti first became interested in astronomy at the age of five, after seeing the BBC TV programme ‘The Sky
at Night’, and soon became an enthusiastic amateur astronomer. He joined his local astronomical society
in the UK, WYAS (the West Yorkshire Astronomical Society) at the age of eight, and is currently honoured
to serve as the society’s honorary president. To pursue his dream of turning his hobby into a career, Jonti
studied a Masters’ degree in Physics and Astronomy at the University of Durham, before moving to the
University of Oxford to undertake his doctoral studies. Once his PhD was complete, Jonti worked as a
postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Bern and the UK’s Open University before moving to
Australia in 2010 to work at UNSW. In 2014, he moved to Toowoomba, to join the University of Southern
Queensland, where he is now Professor of Astrophysics. His research ranges from the study of our own
Solar system to the search for planets orbiting other stars, as well as trying to understand the different
factors that could come together to make one planet more or less suitable as a target in the search for life
beyond Earth.

Film Night May - Cosmos - 45 years Later - The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
2026-05-25 20:00 - 21:00
The Shores of the Cosmic Ocean
Subject: Introduction to the scale of the Cosmos using the “Ship of the Imagination”; cosmic calendar; Eratosthenes and the Library of Alexandria; humanity’s place in the universe. 45 Years Later:

Hubble Space Telescope (1990–) and JWST (2022–) have mapped billions of galaxies and precise cosmic distances; universe age refined to 13.8 billion years.
Discovery of cosmic microwave background anisotropies (COBE/WMAP/Planck) and accelerating expansion (dark energy, 1998).
Exoplanets: from zero in 1980 to >6,100 confirmed; billions likely in the Milky Way alone.

Introduction to Astronomy June 2026
2026-06-01 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
NASA’s Perseverance Rover
Searching for Ancient Life on Mars
NASA’s Perseverance Rover landed on Mars in February 2021, exploring Jezero Crater. Come along for this special evening to learn about the rover, its instruments, and how it conducts its science, then take a visual journey through this fascinating crater. Hear about Perseverance’s key discoveries and their implications for our understanding of Mars and its past ability to support life. You will be surprised by how this incredible rover is helping scientists solve the ultimate cold case: Did Life Exist on Mars? A scaled model will also be available to view.
All attendees will receive a comprehensive, multi-page handout that covers and expands on everything we discuss. Don’t miss out!

Monthly Meeting June - The NASA Psyche mission: First Journey to an Unknown World
2026-06-08 20:00 - 21:00
The NASA Psyche mission is on its way to orbit a small but immensely ancient world in our asteroid belt: A metallic object, the first humans will ever have visited. When our solar system was in its infancy, thousands of planetesimals (tiny planet-like objects) formed in less than a million years. Many planetesimals later melted, allowing metal cores to form inside rocky mantles. One of these metal cores may be revealed in the asteroid (16) Psyche. Dr. Elkins-Tanton, the Mission Lead, takes us behind the scenes in planning and carrying out this remarkable mission of exploration, which launched in 2023, and updates us of where we are over two years post-launch.
This is a rebroadcast of a Silicon Valley Astronomy Lecture.

Practical Astronomy June - The Winter Night Sky
2026-06-15 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345

Film Night June - The Cosmos - 45 years later.
2026-06-22 20:00 - 21:00
One Voice in the Cosmic Fugue
Subject: Evolution by natural selection; Heike crab story; origin of life; DNA and the unity of life. 45 Years Later:

Genomic sequencing revolution (Human Genome Project 2003; thousands of species sequenced); horizontal gene transfer and RNA world hypothesis strengthened.
Laboratory synthesis of self-replicating RNA and protocells; complex organics detected on comets (Rosetta) and asteroids (Ryugu samples).
JWST detecting prebiotic molecules in protoplanetary disks.
