Hamilton Astronomical Society

Upcoming & Past Members Nights

The following are some previous and upcoming events for HAS (Hamilton Astronomical Society) Members. Members will be reminded of the dates and times for these in the monthly newsletter. You can also check out our calendar.

NOT A MEMBER?
We would be pleased to have you join us! If you would like to join the Hamilton Astronomical Society, please have a look at our “Become a member” page! You don’t have to have a telescope to be a member. And you don’t need to know much about astronomy! But you will find you will learn about astronomy just by coming along to events.

Upcoming Astronomy Talks for HAS Members

Past Astronomy Talks - 2024

• November 2024: The Moons of Jupiter
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  Continuing with this year’s themes of “moons” and “the solar system”, we take a look at the moons of Jupiter. As of November 2024, 95 Jovian moons have been officially recognised by the International Astronomical Union. You will learn much more about this tonight - where did they come from? how do we work out which are parts of larger objects that were shattered in the past? We also take a closer look at the four Galilean moons - three with subsurface saltwater oceans and one with hundreds of active volcanoes and several lava lakes! I gave a version of this talk at the observatory back in 2021, when there were only 79 recognised moons orbiting Jupiter. For those who attended back then, this will be a great opportunity to refresh your knowledge! 

• October 2024: New Ideas on the Moon’s Formation & Its Importance to Life on Earth
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)

  How often do you look up at the Moon and think nothing more? Scientists have debated how Earth acquired our unique Moon for years, involving five possibilities. Tonight, Chris Benton discusses these ideas, including the most widely accepted Giant Impact Hypothesis and its troubling flaws, and reviews new high-resolution simulations that provide solutions. Following this, he will discuss why the Moon’s existence is critical to life on Earth, and will forever change the way you appreciate the Moon when looking up!

• September 2024: 10+ Things You Didn’t Know About Apollo 11
  Speaker: John Burkett (from Hibiscus Coast Astronomical Society)

  July marked 55 years since Apollo 11 launched to the Moon, and its story is well documented. But what of some of the lesser known stories? Join us at this meeting, where John Burkett from HCAS will give us a presentation on "10+ Things You Didn’t Know About Apollo 11".

• August 2024: Meteorites!
  Speaker: Dr Joel Schiff (mathematician, author, meteorite expert)

  Meteorites are Solar System material that has landed on Earth. Most of it comes from the Asteroid Belt between Mars and Jupiter, although some specimens are from the Moon and Mars. How this material lands on Earth and why it is scientifically important for studying the origins of the Solar System will be the subject of the talk. Numerous samples belonging to the author will be available for perusal.

  Joel Schiff has a PhD in mathematics from UCLA. He spent his career at the University of Auckland and has written three books on mathematical subjects. Astronomy has always remained a passion, and one of his recent books is "The Most Interesting Galaxies in the Universe".

• July 2024: Solar System Surprises
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  We know a great deal about our Solar System - there are eight planets, several dwarf planets, over 300 moons, countless asteroids (some with moons!) and other small objects… and the list goes on. Of course, there is sure to be more to discover, and many mysteries still to be solved. But in the vast amount of current Solar System knowledge there are some facts that will surprise you! This talk includes something for all age groups and all levels of astronomy knowledge, so come along to hear about a selection of these “Solar System Surprises”!

• June 2024: Apollo Moon Landings: The Lost Missions
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)

  In July 1969, Apollo 11 quite rightly attracted a lot of media attention and will forever be in the history books. However, five successful landings followed from November 1969 to December 1972, which history has all but forgotten. Chris Benton reviews all six missions, illustrating how each one was more technologically and scientifically advanced than the previous. Learn what these pioneering missions achieved!

• May 2024: Modern Rocket Technology
  Speaker: Charlie Cooper (From Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  A tour through some of the more interesting current and emerging technologies being employed and researched in the field of rocketry. The presentation will step through several examples and concepts under development and discuss where the launch industry and human spaceflight is heading next.

• April 2024: Physics and History; the Earth and the Solar System
  Speaker: Nick Odom (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  We are taught about ancient ways of looking at the universe from a modern perspective. We tend to regard past ideas about the universe as being wrong simply because we think we know better, while ignoring the fact that in past times the whole basis of reasoning was very different from today. This talk explores past world views; it also describes several pioneers who changed the world view, both through observation and also by developing new ideas and concepts.

• March 2024: Establishing a U.S. Base on the Moon: Timing and Challenges
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)

  There’s now a strong sentiment in the aerospace community and many sectors of society that it’s time humans leave the confines of our planet to explore the Moon and, eventually, Mars. But this time, we mine precious resources and set up long-term bases with the goal of staying. It won’t be easy, won’t be cheap, and will involve creating new technologies. Such an ambitious project carries many other challenges, too, the least of which will be international competition to reach and tap water sources. This lecture will identify and expose all of the “big picture” challenges to be faced, met, and overcome all within NASA’s incredible 2030 timeline for its Artemis Program.

• February 2024: How we know Our Universe is Expanding
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (From Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  We know the universe is expanding - it’s getting bigger and bigger. This means space itself is expanding: space is not only being stretched - new space is coming into existence! How and why is this happening, and how do we know? In this talk, we will find out how we know this.

Past Astronomy Talks - 2023

• November 2023: The Soviet Space Programme
  Speaker: John Burkett (From Hibiscus Coast Astronomical Society)

  Tonight, our guest speaker, John Burkett from Hibiscus Coast Astronomical Society, spoke on the Soviet Space Programme during the space race with the USA from the 1950s to the first Moon landing in 1969. We learned from now de-classified documents the names of those involved, what they achieved, and how they changed history.

• October 2023: What is the Universe made of?
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (From Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  The main components of our Universe have been identified as ordinary matter, dark matter, and dark energy, with a tiny amount of radiation. Matter is the atoms of which everything we see is made, while radiation includes starlight and the cosmic microwave background in the universe. Dark matter is an invisible matter identified from many observations, including the speed at which stars orbit in spiral galaxies. Dark energy is the best explanation for why the expansion of the universe is speeding up rather than slowing down. In this talk, we learn about each of these. We will look at the evidence for dark matter and dark energy, what they might be, and how they affect the geometry and expansion of the universe.

• September 2023: Understanding the “Observable” Universe
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (From Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  The “Observable” Universe is approximately 46.5 billion light-years in radius. But the universe is only 13.8 billion years old, so the oldest light we can see started travelling 13.8 billion years ago. And, this oldest light started only 42 million light-years away from our location. How does all that work out? Tonight, I will explain.

• August 2023: Man's Future on Earth and in Space
  Speaker: Nick Odom (From Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  Much is unpredictable, but we can understand future conditions on Earth to a large extent by studying conditions in the past. The talk also debunks some commonly held myths about man’s future in space.

• July 2023: Our Place in the Universe - Where do we fit in?
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)

  A visual journey starting with us as technologically advanced complex life on a small rocky planet, which is one of eight planets in orbit around an average star. We move out of the Solar System through our home galaxy, the Milky Way, out to the Local Group of galaxies to the Virgo and Laniakea superclusters making up the cosmic web structure of the Observable Universe before speculating on the size and geometry of the Entire Universe.

• June 2023: The Night Sky - What Are We Looking At?
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)

  The unaided eye can see four galaxies, five planets and approximately 2500 stars on a clear night. How often have you looked up at the sky and wondered what you are observing? Could that bright light be a large star or a planet, and what type of star or planet?
  Chris Benton talks about what you can see and how you know what those objects are. We look forward to seeing you all there and learning the answers to those and other questions. All attendees will receive a handout covering these points, plus recommended free software and apps to explore the night sky.

• May 2023: A Tourist’s Guide to Titan
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  Saturn’s largest moon Titan has lakes, seas, rivers and rain. But instead of liquid water, it has liquid methane, and instead of rock, it has ice frozen as hard as granite. The sky is a haze of organic molecules, with the occasional methane cloud in summer. The air temperature is a rather cold minus 179 degrees Celsius, and the seas and lakes are also about the same temperature. It’s almost like Earth’s super chilled twin. What would it be like to visit there? As a tourist, you will find some interesting surprises!

• April 2023: The Building Blocks of the Universe (and how they relate to astronomy)
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)

  A fun, basic introduction to how the universe works at the smallest scales. In this talk, we start by describing the structure and size of the atom for anyone new to the topic. You will then be equipped to join the journey down the rabbit hole to the smallest, weirdest particles. After hearing about these intriguing objects, we learn how the building blocks of the universe apply in astronomy. What are cosmic rays? How does the Sun really turn hydrogen into helium to provide sunlight? There are trillions of (harmless) particles from space travelling through you right now - what are they? Whether your knowledge of this topic is limited or if you know all about the tiny particles of the universe, you will be fascinated by this talk.

• March 2023: What leads to hyper-luminous supernovae and supermassive black holes?Speaker: Sohan Ghodla (Ph.D. student, University of Auckland)

  Accretion disks are regions of localized mass and angular momentum that rotate around a massive central object. They are ubiquitous in astrophysics and are influential right from the process of star formation to the growth of supermassive black holes. Here in particular I will explain their role in the formation of very energetic stellar explosions such as superluminous supernovae and gamma-ray bursts. Additionally, I will discuss their importance in producing rapidly rotating and/or supermassive black holes.
  Sohan is a Ph.D. student in the physics department at the University of Auckland, whose current research includes the study of stellar evolution, accretion disks, and gravitational wave sources.

• March 2023: Revealing the Youngest Stars in the Galaxy
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)

  The youngest, or infant, stars in the Galaxy, residing in regions of star formation, are typically enshrouded in thick dust and unable to be observed by conventional telescopes at visual wavelengths. Modern space telescopes penetrate this dust, particularly the James Webb Space Telescope’s recent high-resolution images in near- and mid-infrared wavelengths, revealing unprecedented details of these young short-lived stellar objects. These observations provide new insights into how stars are born and evolve into stable, long-lived main sequence stars burning hydrogen at their core.

  Tonight we review standard features of star formation regions, including dark nebulae and bok globules, before discussing protostars, pre-main sequence stars and associated protoplanetary disks, bipolar outflow Jets and Herbig-Haro objects. Discover how these structures contribute to the formation of stars and groups of planets, such as our Solar System. This evening you will also learn the difference between T-Tauri and Herbig Ae/Be stars and how they evolve to the main sequence.

• February 2023: Hunting the Most Massive Stars in the Galaxy
  Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)
  Massive stars are considered those that ultimately end their lives as supernova explosions to become neutron stars or black holes. Well-known examples are Betelgeuse and Rigel in Orion and Antares in Scorpius. This evening Chris Benton will discuss the properties and types of massive stars, explaining the principles behind our observations, including why they are extremely bright and rare objects with a wide range of temperatures, plus why they are predominantly located in regions of star formation within the Galaxy. We will then discuss the differences between open star clusters and stellar associations in the context of massive stars.

Past Astronomy Talks - 2022

• November 2022: Big Science in a Little Country
  Speaker: Professor Richard Easther (Professor of Physics at the University of Auckland)
  Doing astronomy is as easy as stepping out and looking up. However, ever since Stonehenge astronomy has been at the forefront of what is now called “big science” — branches of knowledge whose development relies on large, shared research facilities rather than individual laboratories. One example of this is the European Space Agency’s LISA mission which is slated for launch in the early 2030s. LISA will measure gravitational waves generated during collisions between the biggest black holes in the universe. New Zealand scientists (including me and my group) are contributing to LISA and I will explain what we hope this will tell us about the origin and evolution of the universe. And I’ll talk about how little countries like New Zealand can contribute to big projects, how we can get involved, and what we get out of it.

• November 2022: Human Spaceflight to Mars
  Things you need to know
  Speaker: Dr Chris Benton (MBChB, MSc (Astronomy))
  NASA, China and Elon Musk’s Space X recently announced their intention to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. Why go to Mars, and what are the challenges to the human body and mind with this pioneering journey? Dr Chris Benton discussed these questions and outlined the physical and psychological hazards of human long-duration spaceflight, proposed countermeasures and current research in this field.
  Dr Benton worked full-time as a medical physician from 1986 until semi-retiring in 2014 to return to university for a Master’s Degree in Astronomy. He is interested in spaceflight’s hazards on the human body and mind, researching this as part of his university studies. Chris completed this degree in 2020, fully retired in 2021, and now enjoys writing articles and discussing medical- and astronomy-related topics.

• October 2022: Relativity - The Layman’s Guide (Part 2 of 2)
  General Relativity
  Speaker: Nick Odom (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)
  Relativity and Newton’s law of gravity are mathematically incompatible. Einstein realized that the local effects of gravity and acceleration are equivalent and that gravity is actually a distortion of spacetime. An analysis of the effect of gravity on light reveals that time runs slower in gravitational fields and that light bends. The bending is increased by the curvature of space. In this talk, we briefly examine black holes and end with the observational consequences of the theory.

• October 2022: Gravitational Waves from Merging Black Holes and Neutron Stars
  Guest Speaker: Associate Professor Jan J. Eldridge (Head of Department, Physics, University of Auckland)
  In 2015 the first detection of two merging black holes was detected by the LIGO gravitational wave observatories. While these "ripples in spacetime" were predicted by Einstein in 1915 it took a century to build an instrument sensitive enough to detect them. How gravitational waves are observed and the sources we see in the Universe and what we have learnt about black holes was outlined. We also heard about what we've learnt from the events including neutron stars.

• September 2022: Relativity - The Layman’s Guide (Part 1 of 2)
  Historical Background and Special Relativity
  Speaker: Nick Odom (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)
  In Part 1, Nick began with a brief description of physical knowledge in the 1890s and the problems that led to relativity, in particular with regard to measuring the speed of light. Nick then described the basic axioms that underpin the theory and the effects on time and distance, including the relevance of inertial frameworks, the Doppler effect and the twin paradox. Next, the relationship between mass and energy was addressed, finishing with an introduction to spacetime. This provided the basis for progressing to general relativity (Part 2). Both talks keep mathematics very simple and use diagrams to convey the message.

• September 2022: NASA’s Mission to Touch the Sun: The Parker Solar Probe
  Speaker: Professor Sean Oughton.
  The Sun's outer atmosphere (the corona) has a temperature of about a million degrees Celsius. This has been known since the 1940s, but how it gets to be that hot is still not understood, although the Sun's magnetic field is believed to play a pivotal role. The NASA spacecraft mission Parker Solar Probe (PSP) was launched in 2018 to try to improve understanding of this 'coronal heating problem' (along with some other objectives). PSP was designed to get within the corona, where the physics is somewhat different compared to the regions above the corona. PSP has been closer to the Sun than any other spacecraft and has now dipped in and out of the actual corona a few times. Over the next few years, it will get even closer. This talk discussed the PSP mission and its objectives, and what directly measuring the speed, density, and magnetic field in the corona have taught us.

• August 2022: Life in the Solar System (Part 2 of 2)
  Europa, Titan, Mars, Missions, and other Oceans
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (Hamilton Astronomical Society member)
  In Part 2, we visited Europa, one of Jupiter’s moons, then headed to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, to see if either of these moons might be habitable (for microbes, not humans!). Next we had a quick look at Mars, which used to have a substantial atmosphere, as well as ocean and rivers on its surface. We considered whether life might have been present on Mars in the past, or even today. Next, we took a very brief look at three upcoming missions to Europa and Titan. Finally, other potential oceans in our Solar System were discussed.

• August 2022: Archaeoastronomy In Peru
  Guest Speaker: Gary Sparks (Director of Holt Planetarium Napier)
  In 1997, Gary had the opportunity to go on a specialist astronomical tour of Peru. He visited sites that were well known and one that few members of the public had ever seen. In this talk Gary shares some of his images and some of the ideas that were discussed during his trip.

• July 2022: Life in the Solar System (Part 1 of 2)
  What is life?, molecules from space, extremophiles, Enceladus
  Speaker: Jonathan Park (from Hamilton Astronomical Society)
  Could life exist elsewhere in the Solar System? Could it even get started anywhere else? People often wonder about the possibility of life on other worlds. Even if we eventually find only microbial life elsewhere in our Solar System, this will show life has arisen more than once around a single star in a galaxy of billions. Such a discovery would open the door for possibilities of life throughout the universe. In this talk, we explored the potential for life elsewhere in our Solar System. We asked the question “what is life?”, look at the building blocks of life, how life might get started, and Earth’s extremophiles – organisms which love extreme conditions. Finally, we visited Saturn’s tiny icy moon Enceladus, to see what conditions are like there.

• June 2022: Measuring Distances In Space (Part 2 of 2)
  The Cosmic Distance Ladder & The Hubble Tension
  Guest Speaker: Chris Benton (from Auckland Astronomical Society)
  Descriptions of most astronomical objects such as planets, stars and galaxies usually include how far away from Earth they are. The quoted distance may involve millions of kilometres, light years or parsecs. In part 1, we discussed astronomers’ principles and methods to measure distances across space. In part 2 we briefly reviewed those in the context of their ideal range before discussing the cosmic distance ladder as a tool to optimise precision over extra-large distances. We then covered the current expansion of space, known as Hubble’s constant (H0), in the context of “late-time” and “early-time” measurements, highlighting a severe discrepancy between the two, known as the Hubble Tension. Two case studies illustrated using the cosmic distance ladder, with one showing the Hubble Tension, while another offers a solution.

• June 2022: A talk by Space Dave

• May 2022: The James Webb Space Telescope: Gateway to a Golden Era in Astronomy

• May 2022: Measuring Distances In Space (Part 1 of 2)

• May 2022: Danger from Space - Meteorites
  Guest Speaker: Alista Fow (from the University of Waikato)
  When there was a meteorite explosion over Chelyabinsk in 2013, the discussion of the risks of meteorites has once again entered the public consciousness. So what interactions have humans had with meteorites in the past, what are the chances of a major event during our lifetimes and how much damage could such an event cause?

• April 2022: How we know the Universe is Expanding

Past Astronomy Talks - 2021 and Earlier

• 2021: Outlandish, abandoned and potential space missions

• 2021: Planet 9 from Outer Space

• 2021: The Maori understanding of the star Rehua

• 2021: Spectroscopy of Suspected Giant Eclipsing Binary ASASSN-21co

• 2021: The Many Moons of Jupiter

• 2021: Mars 2020 Recap & Update

• 2020: ASTRONZ demonstration of a range of astronomical equipment

• 2020: The Dark Sky

• 2020: Space environmentalism: Search for water & life in space, & protecting it on Earth

• 2020: Keck Observatory Live Lecture

• Previous: Dark Energy

• Previous: The Solar Neutrino Problem

• Previous: Titan - Saturn’s Largest Moon.

Other Regular Events

• Free entry to HAS Public nights

• Monthly Young Astronomers Night

• Casual Telescope Viewing Night - selected months only - TBA.