#StandWithUkraine

Author: @milkywaykiwi

On Top

Recent Stories

What is NOT in the January sky

I’ve been arguing that the Zodiacal Band is humankind’s first useful calendar. Like any calendar, it predicts the future. So for instance, when the Sun is in Sagittarius we cannot see Sagittarius.

Read More »
family decorating their christmas tree

Why 25?

Pondering about the origins of Christmas and meanings that people give to events, while waiting for the New Year.

Read More »

Home

“That’s home. That’s us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives.”

Read More »

Te Waka O Tamarereti

As the waka entered the sky, Tama Rereti began to scatter the luminescent stones and pebbles in all directions as he went along. The wake of the canoe became the Milky Way and the stones and pebbles became its stars.
This is why we have stars in the sky.

Read More »

Moon stuff…

A silver metallic Moon has shown up at my bedroom’s window.

Its hidden through a veil of grey thin clouds, which seem to be pressing against the jagged mountain line in straight horizontal banding. She, who used to be a huge and round disk of bright light, is now smudged in all directions, with charcoal of darkness.

Read More »

NGC 4444

It’s a rather faint galaxy, but remember, that even in a galaxy far, far away there are always great things happening, sometimes unnoticed, but like life sometimes the small unnoticed things have a great impact for our lives and can keep us centered and on track.

Read More »

The sky of June – The Rising of the Galaxy

Out I went and nothing prepared me for what I saw that night. On the pitch dark sky of Wairarapa, with luscious hills that hold the horizon in sweet curves that rest the eye, a luminous whirlpool of stars was erupting from the east. Silver river of stars, one of its arms was meandering the eastern horizon in oval arched loops like an octopus’s arm that passed a Southern Cross marking the 12 o’clock position on the celestial time keeper of the south. The galactic arm was thinning down towards the western horizon and righteously so as the further we go from Scorpius and Sagittarius, we are actually looking towards the outskirts of our galaxy, where fewer stars venture. I stood there in silence watching the slow rising of the Galaxy and I realised that it was for the first time in my life when I was truly seeing it with my eyes.

Read More »

The sky of May – Tahi, Rua, Toru

In Maori, tahi, rua, toru means one, two, three. So Atu-tahi – One, Taku-rua – Two, Tau-toru – Three,
or you can count Sirius (1) / Canopus (2) / Alpha Centauri (3) / Arcturus (4) No matter what you prefer, these stars will be there in the evening of May.

Read More »

Social Media

New

See them for yourself

Join us for a Star Safari or in the Astrobiology Dome

Categories

Categories
On Trend

Most Popular Stories

Stardate South Island

Stardate South Island 2023

Stardate South Island was held 17-19 Feb 2023 at Staveley, near Christchurch. It was a fantastic weekend and you can read all about it here.

Venus – the forgotten planet

Venus doesn’t capture a lot of press time as it’s often overshadowed by the more hospitable Mars and the more photogenic planets of Saturn and Jupiter. It’s not all quiet around Venus, as JAXA has Akatsuki orbiting Earth’s twin and sending back some great images and building our understanding of Venus.