AstronomyNZ

Stardate 2008, a review

This year’s Stardate was opened with Sabo’s fast and furious exploration of The meaning of Life. Graham Palmer followed with his study of the ephemeral Noctolucent Clouds.

In honour of our guest speaker, Dee Friesen from Albuquerue, USA, the leader of the Messier observing section of The Albuquerque Astronomical Society (TAAS) Ian covered the Top 20 Caldwell Objects Visible at Stardate. Dee gave two presentations over the following days: Star Gazing up North, which detailed the scope and variety of TAAS’s activities and public outreach and Messiers for Beginners, a programme which detailed the interesting way that TAAS use observing of the Messier Objects as a way to introduce beginners to the night sky. Dee was a good speaker. He enjoyed the observing programmes. A strong relationship was forged that was beneficial to both sides. Dee and Ruth’s presence added something very special to this year’s Stardate. In the future, we hope to see further visits from TAAS members.

The variety continued  throughout the following days. Garry took us on a very interesting Archeoastronomy tour of Peru, with photographs of ancient solar and stellar observing sites taken on his recent visit to South America. Kay explored the way scientific ideas developed, Genisis of Scientific ideas) and Richard explored the story of Venus in fact and fiction. (Ishtar- the morning Star).

John Burt (The Dunlop 100), John Drummond (Robert Burnham, a Prince of the Stars) continued the observing and astronomy catalogue theme, while Murray Forbes detailed the nuts and bolts of Occultations,  Deborah Hambly showed us how she used the Matariki (Pleiades) star cluster to show clients the wonders of the heavens.

Cosmology also got a look in with Antony exploring The Holographic Universe and Robert In defence of the Big Bang.

Beautiful astrophotography was showcased in audio-visuals by John Drummond (Music of the Spheres &Ccomet Holmes) and Starry Nights by Chris Picking. For those who were inspired to give astrophotography a go, a workshop by John Burt, Graham Palmer and John Drummond detailed the techniques of achieving excellent digital photographs in Processing Images in Photoshop. It’s great that these guys are willing to share the expertise to beginners.

For those who thought they knew it all, Richard’s presentation Astronomical Names – speak it proper like I does soon made it clear that we don’t pronounce the star names or planet names properly. It was fun going around the telescopes in the dark and listening to people trying to ‘speak it proper’.

Finally, Vikki Irons with her Great Astro Quiz made it quite clear that we were a basically ignorant lot but full of fun and laughter in spite of that.

We all enjoyed the barbeques, catered or otherwise and the Late Night Movies or should I say “Light Night Movies” as the programme stated.

Stardate 2009, will take place at the same venue, Tukituki Christian Camp, Tukituki Valley, Havelock North from 22- 26 January. It should be a great event and will be the very first astro event in the International Year of  Astronomy, so book your holidays now!