Abstract
Although New Zealand is a young country, astronomy played a significant role in its early exploration and discovery during the three voyages of Cook from 1769. In the later 19th century several expeditions came to New Zealand to observe the transits of Venus of 1874 and 1882 and New Zealand’s rich history of prominent amateur astronomers dates from this time. The Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (founded in 1920) has catered for the amateur community. Professional astronomy however had a slow start in New Zealand. The Carter Observatory was founded in 1941. But it was not until astronomy was taken up by New Zealand’s universities, notably by the University of Canterbury from 1963, that a firm basis for research in astronomy and astrophysics was established. Mt John University Observatory with its four optical telescopes (largest 1.8 m) is operated by the University of Canterbury and is the main base for observational astronomy in the country. However four other New Zealand universities also have an interest in astronomical research at the present time. There is also considerable involvement in large international projects such as MOA, SALT, AMOR, IceCube and possibly SKA.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
References
Andrews, F.P. & Budding, E. 1992, Carter Observatory’s 9-inch Refractor: The Crossley Connection, Southern Stars 34, 358–366.
Austin, R.R.D. 1994, Albert Jones — The Quiet Achiever, Southern Stars 36, 36–42.
Baggaley, W.J. 2001, The AMOR Radar: An Efficient Tool for Meteoroid Research, Adv. Space Res. 28(9), 1277–1282.
Baggaley, W.J., Bennett, R.G.T., Steel, D.I. & Taylor, A.D. 1994, The Advanced Meteor Orbit Radar: AMOR, Quart. J. Roy. Astron. Soc. 35, 293–320.
Baggaley W.J. & Galligan G.P. 2001, Mapping the Interstellar Dust Flow into the Solar System, European Space Agency Special Report SP-495, 703.
Bateson, F.M. 1964, Final Report on the Site Selection Survey of New Zealand, Publ. Univ. Pennsylvania, Astron. Series X, iv + 139 pp.
Bateson, F.M. 1978, The Southern Dwarf Nova, Z Cha, Monthly Not. R. Astron. Soc. 184, 567.
Bateson, F.M. 2001, The Variable Star Section, RASNZ, Southern Stars 40, 7–11.
Best, E. 1922, The Astronomical Knowledge of the Maori, First published 1922; new edition 1955 published as Dominion Museum Monograph 3.
Bond, I.A., Udalski, A., Jaroszynski, M., Rattenbury, N.J., Paczynski, B., Soszynski, I., Wyrzykowski, L., Szymanski, M.K., Kubiak, M., Szewczyk, O., Zebrun, K., Pietrzynski, G., Abe, F., Bennett, D.P., Eguchi, S., Furuta, Y., Hearnshaw, J.B., Kamiya, K., Kilmartin, P.M., Kurata, Y., Masuda, K., Matsubara, Y., Muraki, Y., Noda, S., Okajima, K., Sako, T., Sekiguchi, T., Sullivan, D.J., Sumi, T., Tristram, P.J., Yanagisawa, T. & Yock, P.C.M. 2004, OGLE 2003-BLG-235/MOA 2003-BLG-53: A Planetary Microlensing Event, Astrophys. J. 606, L155–L158.
Budding, E. 1989, Eightieth birthday of Dr Frank M. Bateson, Southern Stars 33, 169.
Burdon, R.M. 1956, Scholar Errant, Pegasus Press, Christchurch, NZ.
Calder, D. 1978, Joseph Ward: Pioneer Astronomer and Telescope Maker, Southern Stars 27, 104–108.
Campbell, R.N. 2001, Henry Skey 1836–1914, Southern Stars 40/2, 11–12.
Dick, S.J., Love, T. & Orchiston, W. 1998, Queenstown and the 1874 Transit of Venus, Carter Observatory Information sheet 11.
Dodson, A. 1996, Thye With-Browning Telescope at Pauatahanui, Southern Stars 37, 45–51.
Doughty, N.A., Shane, C.D. & Wood, F.B. 1972, The Canterbury Sky Atlas, Publ. Dept. of Physics, Univ. Canterbury, NZ.
Eiby, G. 1970, Captain James Cook and the Universe, Southern Stars 23, 140–152.
Einstein, A. 1936, Lens-like Action of a Star by the Deviation of Light in the Gravitational Field, Science 84, 506–507.
Evans, R.W. & Lucas, K.J. 1989, The Skey-Ashburton College Telescope, Southern Stars 33, 178–187.
Gilmore, G. 1982, Alexander William Bickerton: New Zealand’s Colourful Astronomer, Southern Stars 29, 87–108.
Harper, C.T., Warren, O. & Austin, R. 1990, J.T. Ward and the NZO Double Stars, Southern Stars 33, 281–294.
Hayes, M. 1987, In Spite of his Time, a Biography of R.C. Hayes, NZ Geophysical Society.
Hearnshaw, J.B., Barnes, S.I., Kershaw, G.M., Frost, N., Graham, G., Ritchie, R.A. & Nankivell, G.R. 2002, The Hercules ‘Echelle Spectrograph at Mt John, Experimental Astron. 13, 59–76.
Jones, A.F. 1989, F.M. Bateson: A Tribute from an Observer, Southern Stars 33, 170–171.
Kingsley-Smith, C. 1967, Astronomers in Piupius: Maori Star Lore, Southern Stars 22, 5–10.
Kravchenko, I., Frichter, G.M., Miller, T., Piccirillo, L., Seckel, D., Spiczak, G.M., Adams, J., Seunarine, S., Allen, C., Bean, A., Besson, D., Box, D.J., Buniy, R., Drees, J., McKay, D., Meyers, J., Perry, L., Ralston, J., Razzaque, S. & Schmitz, D.W. 2003, Limits on the Ultra-high Energy Electron Neutrino Flux from the RICE Experiment, Astropart. Phys. 20, 195–213.
McIntosh, R.A. 1935, An Index to Southern Meteor Showers, Monthly Not. R. Astron. Soc. 95, 709–718.
McIntosh, R.A. 1970, Early New Zealand Astronomy, Southern Stars 23, 101–108.
Nankivell, G.R. 1994, The 9.5-inch Cooke Objective of the Wanganui Observatory, Southern Stars 36, 1–9.
Orbell, M. 1995, The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Maori Myth and Legend, Canterbury University Press, Christchurch.
Orchiston, W. 1998, Nautical Astronomy in New Zealand, Publ. Carter Observatory, Wellington.
Orchiston, W. 2001, The Thames Observatories of John Grigg, Southern Stars 403, 14–22.
Orchiston, W. 2002, Joseph Ward: Pioneer New Zealand Telescope Maker, Southern Stars 41, 13–21.
Orchiston, W., Love, T. & Dick, S.J. 2000, Refining the Astronomical Unit: Queenstown and the 1874 Transit of Venus, J. Astron. History and Heritage 3, 23–44.
Seymour, J.B. 1995, The History of the Thomas King Observatory, Wellington, Southern Stars 36, 102–114.
Taylor, A.D., Baggaley, W.J. & Steel, D.I. 1996, Discovery of Interstellar Dust Entering the Earth’s Atmosphere, Nature 380, 323–325.
Thomsen, I. 1950, Proceedings of Observatories: Report from Carter Observatory, Wellington, NZ, Monthly Not. R. Astron. Soc. 110, 163.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2006 Springer
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hearnshaw, J.B. (2006). Astronomy in New Zealand. In: Heck, A. (eds) Organizations and Strategies in Astronomy Volume 6. Astrophysics and Space Science Library, vol 335. Springer, Dordrecht . https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4056-3_4
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/1-4020-4056-3_4
Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht
Print ISBN: 978-1-4020-4055-9
Online ISBN: 978-1-4020-4056-6
eBook Packages: Physics and AstronomyPhysics and Astronomy (R0)