Monthly Members’ Night - second Wednesday of each month except January.

This month, instead of a full-evening lecture, we are dividing the night into several shorter segments.

• Hamilton Astronomical Society News (if there is anything new to report)

• Ian Transom will show us a time-lapse video he has made of the night sky.

• A 15-20 minute "get to know people" bingo game.

• Grab a hot drink to have while you listen to...

• A short talk (around 20 minutes), "How the Sun Really Works" (by Jonathan Park).

• If the weather is clear, and we have anyone available to operate telescopes, we may get these out for some viewing.

This format or similar will be repeated in June and September.

How the Sun Really Works: A beginner’s introduction to the power source of our star.
Well, nuclear fusion is the power-source, but there’s a bit more to this fascinating topic than simply fusing four hydrogen atoms together to make a helium atom! The talk will explain this, along with some fun facts. For example, did you know that the energy of the light produced in the core of the Sun can take tens of thousands, up to nearly two hundred thousand years, to get to the Sun’s surface, before it makes the 8 minutes 20 seconds journey to the Earth?

We will have tea, coffee, and hot chocolate available.

Wednesday 11 March 2026, 7:30 pm.

Members: please see March newsletter for more details.

HAS Committee Meeting

This month we are looking at sound and light waves. As usual we will be doing something hands on and aimed at our young members.

Any questions please email David on Davidb@has.org.nz

Members night annual BBQ.

Members - please see your email for details.

For details and to register a seat, please click: www.has.org.nz/bht-registration-2026

Members - please note change of date. Was previously 31st January, now changed to February 1st.

Please check emails for details about times and venue.

Monthly Members’ Night - second Wednesday of each month except January.

Tonight - A live presentation via video link, followed by informal chat over tea or coffee. Telescope viewing possible afterwards depending on weather and availablilty of scope operators.

Tonight’s Talk

Special Guest Speaker – Live via Video

Dr. Ariel Graykowski from SETI
(SETI: Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence)

This December, instead of our annual quiz, we are delighted to welcome a special guest speaker, live by video – Dr. Ariel Graykowski from the SETI Institute. Ariel will share insights from her research, including studies of comets. We will also learn about the interstellar comet Comet 3I/Atlas.

Dr. Ariel Graykowski is a research scientist at the SETI Institute, where she leads the Unistellar Citizen Science Comet Program. She studies the evolving activity of comets, asteroids, and interstellar visitors using a global network of telescopes operated by citizen astronomers. Her work bridges professional and public astronomy in the exploration of our solar system and beyond.

Monthly Members’ Night - second Wednesday of each month except January.

Tonight - A presentation, followed by informal chat over tea or coffee. Telescope viewing possible afterwards depending on weather and availablilty of scope operators.

Tonight’s Talk

Life in the Solar System:

ICY MOONS and ALIEN OCEANS.

Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

Tonight we voyage to the frozen worlds orbiting Jupiter, Saturn and beyond to explore the secret oceans hidden beneath their icy crusts. We’ll ask whether these subsurface seas could support life - not humans, but hardy microbes - and whether past conditions might have allowed life to begin. You’ll see what those oceans might be like: their temperature, salinity, energy sources, and how similar or different they are from Earth’s oceans. Images and animations will help us compare environments and make this a fun visual experience. Fun fact: the total number of ocean worlds in the Solar System is likely to be over 14!

Doors open 8:10 pm.

Event for new members

HAS Members - please see email newsletter for details, or the members’ section of the website.

Monthly Members’ Night - second Wednesday of each month except January.

Tonight - A presentation, followed by informal chat over tea or coffee. Telescope viewing possible afterwards depending on weather and availablilty of scope operators.

Tonight’s Talk

Life in the Solar System:
Building Blocks, Extremes, and Possibilities

Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

Are we alone, or might we share our Solar System with microbes? Tonight, we’ll explore one of the most compelling questions in science: could life exist elsewhere in the Solar System?

If we do find life beyond Earth, it's unlikely to be anything more advanced than single-celled microbes - though the possibility of simple multicellular life can't be ruled out. We'll begin by asking the deceptively simple question: What is life? From there, we'll examine the building blocks of Earth life and whether they are present beyond our planet. We'll also consider how life may have started here on Earth, and briefly highlight extraterrestrial environments where some Earth microbes could, in principle, survive. Extremophiles - microbes that thrive in environments lethal to most organisms - show us that life can adapt to astonishingly harsh conditions. This opens the door to the possibility that microbial life could survive in places once thought to be uninhabitable.

Putting this all together, we will examine the evidence for ancient microbial life on Mars and consider whether life could exist there now.

Looking ahead, in November we’ll continue this theme by diving into some of the many alien oceans of the Solar System - some of the most promising places to search for life.

As daylight saving will have started now, the start time is 8:30 pm.

The gates and doors will be open from 8:10 pm.