Auckland Astronomical Society Inc

Film Night July - Harmony of the Worlds
2026-07-27 20:00 - 21:00 (Pacific/Auckland) | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We continue our revisiting of The Cosmos Series.

Episode 3:
Subject: History of astronomy from astrology to Kepler’s laws; Ptolemy, Copernicus, Brahe, Galileo; scientific method triumph. 45 Years Later:
Kepler Space Telescope (2009–2018) discovered thousands of exoplanets using transit method, validating Kepler’s laws on a galactic scale.
Gaia mission (2013–) mapped precise positions and motions of >1 billion stars, refining galactic structure.
General relativity tests passed with ever-higher precision (e.g., gravitational waves, LIGO 2015).

Introduction to Astronomy August 2026
2026-08-03 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Titan: Earth’s Frozen Twin
Guest speaker: Jonathan Park
In many ways, Saturn’s moon Titan looks uncannily familiar: dunes like those in Earth’s deserts, mountains, branching river channels, rain, lakes, and seas. But here, methane takes the place of water, and frozen water stands in for solid rock. Beneath Titan’s thick orange haze lies a world near minus 180 °C, where chemistry, climate, and the possibility of life follow entirely different rules. This presentation explores how we get there, what we find, and what NASA’s Dragonfly mission hopes to discover when it arrives in the 2030s.

Emerging Astronomers - Is There Life on Venus?
2026-08-10 19:00 - 20:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
We’ve changed our minds about that several times. In the 1950s we pictured a warm jungle world. Then multiple spacecraft found a surface at ~400°C that destroyed every lander we sent. Now the question has reopened, this time about Venus’s clouds, and about a chemical signal nobody can explain.
Tim Sol is a Year 11 student at Wentworth Computer Science College, Auckland, and the new leader of the AAS Junior sessions, having volunteered with the Society through 2026’s Matariki solar-telescope outreach. He is a 2025 “15@15 Youth Building Democracy” winner and placed 3rd in the 2025 “Mars 2040” Space Competition (Arts & Business College of London). He founded and led his previous school’s Space Club and co-runs Open Process (a YouTube channel about engineering, robotics, and AI).

Monthly Meeting August - Shining a Light on Dark Matter
2026-08-10 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Carnegie Science Observatories postdoc Andrew Robertson focuses on one of the key mysteries in contemporary astronomy: the nature of dark matter. We know that this mysterious form of matter makes up about 85 percent of the mass in the universe, but astronomers still don’t know exactly what it is. Drawing on his experience as a former postdoc at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Robertson will explain how astronomers came to believe that dark matter exists, and how some gargantuan collisions of galaxy clusters—particularly the famous “Bullet Cluster”—provide some of the strongest supporting evidence for its existence. He’ll demonstrate how these extreme cosmic collisions can be used to probe the fundamental properties of dark matter itself. Dr. Andrew Robertson – Postdoctoral Fellow, Carnegie Science Observatories.
This is a rebroadcast of a Carnegie Science Lecture

Practical Astronomy August - An overview of Astronomy software for Amateurs.
2026-08-17 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
This month will be an overview of Astronomy software for amateurs, particularly Sky Charting software for desktop and mobile. We will also cover some available options for telescope mount control, image capture and processing.

Film Night August - The Cosmos revisited 45 Years later - Heaven and Hell
2026-08-24 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Episode 4: Heaven and Hell
Subject: Comets, asteroids, and impacts (Tunguska, Venus greenhouse); planetary evolution and catastrophes. 45 Years Later:

Chicxulub crater confirmed as dinosaur extinction cause (1980s–1990s); multiple impact threats mapped (NEOWISE, etc.).
Venus: confirmed runaway greenhouse; no life but extreme lessons for Earth climate.
Jupiter’s Shoemaker-Levy 9 impact (1994) observed live; DART mission (2022) demonstrated asteroid deflection technology.

Introduction to Astronomy September 2026
2026-09-07 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory, 670 Manukau Rd, Epsom, Auckland, 1345, New Zealand
Large Scale Structure of the Universe
This evening, Chris Benton will discuss how the Universe is structured on large scales. Starting with our location in the Milky Way, we move out through the Local Group into the Virgo and Laniakea Superclusters of galaxies and beyond to reveal the large-scale structures of the Universe, as shown in a video travelling through space made from Sloan Digital Sky Survey data on observed galaxy positions and distances. Come and learn about the most recently discovered structures involving observations of Gamma Ray Bursts and distant quasars, and how they fit in with what we know about the cosmos on grand scales.

Emerging Astronomers September - What Are Saturn's Rings, Really
2026-09-14 19:00 - 19:50 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Everyone knows Saturn has rings — but what are they made of, where did they come from, and how long will they last? Junior sessions continue on Monday 14 September. We’ll go past the famous picture to the real thing: rings sculpted by tiny moons, a world with rivers and rain where you could strap on wings and fly, and another firing water into space from a hidden ocean that might hold life. Saturn is at its best in our sky right now, so everyone leaves with something to go and look at.

Practical Astronomy September - The Spring Night Sky
2026-09-21 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
This will be one of our seasonal Planetarium sessions. We will use the Planetarium to explore the Spring Night Sky. This is a great way to improve your knowledge of the Spring constellations and learn about some of the deep sky objects to be found in them.

Film Night September - The Cosmos 45 Years Later - Blues for a Red Planet
2026-09-28 20:00 - 21:00 | Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, 670 Manukau Road, Epsom, Auckland, 1345
Episode 5: Blues for a Red Planet
Subject: Mars exploration history; Percival Lowell’s canals; Viking missions (1976) and search for life. 45 Years Later:

Rovers (Sojourner 1997 → Perseverance 2021): ancient river/lake beds, organic molecules, “leopard spot” biosignature candidate (2024).
Perseverance caching samples for return (2030s); evidence of past habitability strengthened dramatically.
Methane detections and subsurface ice; potential for past microbial life now a major focus.

2026 Annual Burbidge Dinner
2026-11-15 18:30 - 22:00 | Sorrento In the Park, Cornwall Park, Auckland, New Zealand
This is the Annual Burbidge Dinner held in honour of the principle founder of the Auckland Astronomical Society, Professor Percy Burbidge. Prior to the start of dinner we will be presenting the awards for the winners of the 2026 New Zealand Astrophotography Competition. The Dinner will be followed by the Burbidge Lecture, which will be delivered by Dr Culan Howlett from the University of Queensland.
Dr Howlett is a Senior Lecturer in Astrophysics in the School of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Queensland, and recipient of the 2026 Pawsey Medal from the Australian Academy of Science. His research focuses on mapping the positions and motions of millions of galaxies to understand how our Universe has evolved since the Big Bang — and to shed light on the mysterious dark matter and dark energy that make up 95% of everything in it.
Dr Howlett works on some of the largest galaxy surveys ever undertaken including:
DESI (the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument) — a project mapping tens of millions of galaxies across the Universe.
4HS (the 4M OST Hemisphere Survey) — a new southern-sky survey that began observations in 2026, in which he leads the cosmology team.
Ticket Information
The price includes attendance and a buffet dinner. There will be a cash bar available. The final booking date is 8th November 2026.
Earlybird price for members and their guests $65 pp until 31st October 2026. After 31st October until 8th November, the price for members and their guests is $75 pp.
Members may book tickets by logging in to the Hello Club Auckland Astronomical Society membership portal and select 2026 Burbidge Dinner from the Upcoming Events:
https://members.astronomy.org.nz/
Earlybird price for non members is $75 pp until 31st October 2026. After 31st October until 8th November, the price for non members is $85 pp. Note that non members are required to pay the ticket fee at time of booking. Non members can purchase tickets by emailing treasurer @ astronomy dot org dot nz
