The New Zealand Starlight Conference 2019 in Tekapo completed recently. The conference organisers registered the event with a RASNZ 100 Event Programme. A brief report of the event can be found by clicking the Read More. A full report of the Conference and other activities will be published in the next issue of the Southern Stars.
The 2020 Conference will be held Friday 8 - Sunday 10 May 2020 in Wellington. The Wellington Astronomical Society is hosting the Conference. The Conference venue is the Wharewaka Function Centre located on the waterfront just 2 minutes walk from Te Papa.
As the programme will commence at the earlier than usual time of 1pm on Friday with a walking tour of historically significant astronomical sites close to Wellington's CBD we encourage as many as possible to make their travel arrangements to arrive in the city during the morning. The Conference will conclude mid-afternoon on Sunday.
A Dark Skies workshop will be held is association with the Conference - the timing of this half-day meeting will be confirmed shortly. The workshop will consist of short talks on relevant key local and international dark sky updates and discussion/demonstration on topics such as sky quality measurements and dark sky friendly lighting.
We are delighted to report that we will have as our Invited Speaker Dr Dom Pesce and two further international speakers have been confirmed for the Conference:
RAS Bicentenary Lecturer: Professor Chris Lintott's trip to New Zealand is sponsored by the Royal Astronomical Society as they mark their bicentenary year.
2020 BHT Lecturer: Professor Anna Scaife. The RASNZ Lecture Trust is bringing Anna to NZ as the Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecturer for 2020 and her BHT Lecture Tour will coincide with the Conference.
Click the read more link for more information.
The RASNZ Council is pleased to announce its RASNZ 100 Programme to support Affiliated Societies to celebrate the RASNZ's Centennial year in 2020. The programme will raise the profile of the RASNZ, the Affiliated Society and astronomy through events that engage with Society members and the wider public. Applications from Affiliated Societies may be made now for events to be run between now and the end of 2020.
Click the Read More below for more information and for download links for the application form, the report form and the guidelines document.
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The final part of Brian Loader's series of occultation articles discusses the software used for recording, analysing and reporting occultation events.
Our new President, Dr Nicholas Rattenbury, has written his first President's Desk article to break some fantastic news concerning what we have been calling the SWAPA scheme, and to discuss various other areas of RASNZ activity.