Matariki in 2024
In mid-April 2024, the Pleiades disappeared behind the blaze of the Sun. We watched them every night from Star Safari until we could see them
In mid-April 2024, the Pleiades disappeared behind the blaze of the Sun. We watched them every night from Star Safari until we could see them
We get asked many times what do we see when we look through our telescopes?
Once you get to know your way around the sky and spend a lot of time under the stars you can start seeing amazing things.
Observing the transit of Venus was no easy task, it required careful observations and measurement. 250 years ago expeditions went out across the world to measure this amazing and rare event in order to help us understand the size of the known universe.
When observing the planets in astronomy it can be quite surprising to see the different sizes that appear in the eyepiece and how this can change over time.
We had a great time showing heaps of students Jupiter and Saturn during a talk about Matariki at Government House.
Now that your telescope is all ready, take it outside and start viewing the night sky.
New Horizons will make its next encounter on 1 January next year as it approaches the Kuiper Belt Object Ultima Thule, formerly known as 2014 MU69.
NASA launched Juno to look at Jupiter in 2011 and since 2016 it has been sending back fantastic images of the Solar System’s biggest planet.
Space exploration drives a lot of technological development that has spinoffs for Earth-bound applications.
You don’t need expensive equipment to do astrophotography. A smartphone and a telescope is all you need to get some great shots that will impress your friends and family.
(And we can do something about it.)
Life needs CHNOPS, the six essential elements Carbon, Hydrogen, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Phosphorus, and Sulphur. Curiosity found them on ancient Mars, but a new study shows Earth was born without them. Only a lucky impact with Theia made our world habitable. In contrast, Venus never stood a chance. Meet the three planetary siblings and discover why only Earth became a cradle for life.
Mars’s mantle contains ancient fragments up to 4km wide from its formation—preserved like geological fossils from the planet’s violent early history.
Cosmic rays are hitting the atmosphere constantly. One of the products of the collisions is muons, and we can detect muons on the surface of the Earth to learn about the cosmic rays.
You must be logged in to post a comment.