First of all, Earth has a lot of water. It has 1,260,000,000,000,000,000,000 l of water. Some of this is in the oceans, some in the rivers and some inside Earth’s rocks, and some very deep […]
A Kiwi perspective on astronomy and space science news and how to get the most out the night sky
Category: StarryTelling
Life on and off Earth, from Rotorua
Ever wanted to work for NASA? Or learn about astrobiology from New Zealand? Join us to find out what’s an astrobiologist, why should one visit New Zealand, how the hot springs here in Rotorua are putting it on the astrobiology map, what are NASA plans for sending people on Mars and what you need to do to work there at NASA, jobs of the future, Twizel and artificial intelligence.
Highlights of the night sky – 11 May 2018
A short video of some highlights of the night sky in the Southern Hemisphere from 11 May 2018.
The night sky at Gallipoli, 25 April 1915
103 years ago today, New Zealand and Australian troops landed at Gallipoli in World War 1. We have a look at what the night sky may have looked like in the early hours before the landings on 25th April 1915.
The sky of April – a rope of stars
April is the beginning of the season of the planets. Jupiter gets higher in the sky and Saturn and Mars start making an appearance. It’s also the month where we can start to fully appreciate the Milky Way as the Galactic Centre begins to rise.
One stardate to rule them all
Here’s some hints on how to survive a Stardate without harming yourself or other astronomers.
How many telescopes fit in a Toyota Corolla?
We attended the Stardate South Island event last weekend and had a fantastic time. This article is about how we managed to fit a whole house into the boot of a Toyota Corolla.
What’s a Personal Moon Eclipse Party and what to do with it.
Making the Lunar Eclipse Your Own: So what are you doing for the Super Blue Blood Moon?
The Full Moon is SUPER because it’s closest to the Earth making it 14% larger than the smallest Full Moon. It’s BLUE because it’s the second FULL MOON of the month. On those occasions when you had two full moons in a month, the old Farmer’s Almanac painted the first Full Moon red and the second blue. It’s BLOOD because there will be a lunar eclipse occurring.
How to find M41
This video shows how to find the open cluster, M41, in Canis Major. Visible to both Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
How to find Eta Carinae Nebula
Here’s a video to show how to find Eta Carinae Nebula.
In the night sky next week, 22 to 28 January 2018
The next week is going to be overshadowed by the Moon a bit so it’s the perfect opportunity to do some Moon observing. There’s also a good chance to spot some interesting globular clusters.
What’s in a name
There are a lot of stars in the night sky, billions and billions of them. We can see about 4000 to 6000 in a clear night depending on how dark the sky is and also […]
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.
MWK Talks: What is The Martian Trust?
Charles Polk, General Manager of The Martian Trust is telling MilkyWayKiwi what is The Martian Trust
The Binos Have Arrived
Milky-Way.kiwi just purchased a pair of Celestron 15x70mm Binoculars and this is the first of a series of articles on how we put them to good use!
To the Moon and back (and then Mars)
With all the talk of going back to the moon, we thought it’d be good to recap on who is doing what in the coming years about returning to the Moon.
my life on Mars: The Best Hot Chocolate Recipe in the Galaxy
Everyone knows about water on Mars, but very few people could brag like I can that they have discovered Hot Chocolate on Mars!
The Green Flash
Sunsets are awesome and taking the time to appreciate a good sunset seems to evaporate the stresses of the day and transports you to the surreal space between night and day. It’s little wonder that […]
In the Sky in December 2017
The evening sky is mostly devoid of visible planetary landscapes, with the exception of Mars and Jupiter late in the morning and Uranus and Neptune throughout most of the night (which you will need a telescope to see).
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Anatomy of an Eclipse Trip – POST ECLIPSE
Sunlight lit up the hotel room as Gary pulled back the curtains and exclaimed, “Look at those clouds.” I laughed. Today is the one day where nobody cares about the weather. I wouldn’t mind going through a whole day without watching a weather report.
What’s the world like after a total solar eclipse? Pretty much like it was before. Even just 24 hours later, Michael said that it felt like the Moons encounter with the Sun was a week ago. Ginger got home to California and started to feel an emotional low. “It was so incredible, and now it’s hard to process everything.”
Anatomy of an Eclipse Trip – DAY SEVEN
Do we go or do we stay? That’s the tune for the day as we reach our weather decision deadline. We had a teleconference with Adam Jones, our Colorado meteorologist. Galveston, Tennessee he says has a 100% chance and western Idaho and eastern Oregon have 95%. His prediction for our site include some high clouds which may or may not block totality. The weather wouldn’t be any different until we get at least 300 miles away. However, the odds are still in our favor, and today he gives us a 75% chance of seeing totality…
