Day 1 – Registration and Star Safari
On Friday the 13th and most of the following day, I attended my 38th Annual Stardate convention. For the past two years, the event has been a multi-site affair based in Carterton, Wairarapa International Dark Sky Reserve. After early evening registration and socialising, a group of us headed up to the Star Safari site at Ponatahi. The weather didn’t cooperate for viewing, so we were treated to donning Virtual Reality headsets and suddenly becoming astronauts on the International Space Station. The almost 3D view was mind-blowing for all of us and gave us a brand-new respect for what it takes to be involved in such an immense endeavour.
Day 2 – Talks at the Carterton Events Centre and Stargazing at West Taratahi Hall
On the Saturday morning, things kicked off early with an enlightening talk on “Light Pollution and Health,” by Emeritus Professor Phillipa Gander. Phillipa’s talk went into detail about how light pollution affects our health through sleep deprivation and disruption. Phillipa explained how all of this impacts our long-term health in a bad way, and how the rest of the environment, both flora and fauna, are likewise impacted adversely.
Yours truly was next up with “Will Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) become the next Great Kreutz Comet?” This comet was discovered in January this year and will make a super close approach to the sun, like all Kreutz Family members do, on April 4th. If the comet survives this encounter intact, it could become a spectacular sight in the evening skies of mid-April.
Local astronomer Roger Gibbs shared his passion for resurrecting old telescopes in his talk titled “Old Telescopes Don’t Die, They Just Get Forgotten.” Roger comes from a time not that long ago, when here in New Zealand, if you wanted a telescope, you made it yourself! There was very little off-the-shelf equipment available 30 years ago. One thing led to another, and Roger found that he had the talent to bring life back into old brass telescopes.
After the lunch break Geoff Palmer, the V.P & treasurer of T.P.A.S., regaled us with “Pacific Voyaging over the last 2,000 years.” Geoff showed how early Polynesian people developed incredible navigational tools using the stars, among other things, to traverse the largest body of water on the planet. Their voyaging skills saw migration out into the vast Pacific and Indian Oceans over a lengthy period.
Our Keynote Speaker was Tulasi Parashar from Victoria University, Wellington, who gave perhaps the most prophetic address titled “Space Weather and its impacts on our daily lives.” With our dependence on satellites for so much in modern society, Tulasi pointed out the dangers to communications and GPS systems, which drive much of today’s technology, that massive solar storms can pose. In particular, Tulasi looked at new studies that suggest a higher frequency for massive solar storms like the famous “Carrington Event in September 1859, and possibly even stronger events that could set the world back by decades if we aren’t prepared for them!
Continuing the great variety of talk topics, Haritina Mogosanu informed us of her progress in developing “The Moon Garden at Star Safari.” Hari was intrigued with the idea of setting up low-profile plants that responded to the natural light of the moon to define the paths and borders of the Star Safari site. After selecting mostly exotic plants at first, Haritina investigated the possibility of finding native species that will eventually dominate the gardens that delineate the site.
The great thing about the Star Safari site is the variety of astronomical features available. Some of them are just ticking away in the background while visitors are wowed by the spectacular night sky. Samuel Leske explained how he went about, “Detecting Muons.” Subatomic particles pass through the universe, the Earth and us too. Humans have developed immensely huge detectors in special places around the world to detect things like neutrinos that can come from supernovae and other sources. Muons also come from deep space, even other galaxies, but thanks to modern technology a relatively simple device can record muon activity such that it can be compared to other, local impactors on a global to solar system scale.
That was the end of a jam-packed variety of astronomically related talks for the day, but that wasn’t all for the twenty or so attendees. After dinner we gathered at the West Taratahi Hall for some observing as the sky slowly cleared. People were set up with telescopes and cameras in readiness. In the meantime, Haritina and Sam showed off some software that gives operators with PC’s a chance to fly around at ground level around both the moon and Mars.
As soon as it became dark enough, we tried finding Comet C/2026 A1 (MAPS) before it got too low. At magnitude 11 the comet was a struggle to find in a sky that didn’t get dark in the west for some reason. That reason became more obvious when Brian Dettricht asked the question, “Are those auroral rays along the southwestern horizon?” They sure were. The biggest problem was the lack of a camera by yours truly (my battery was flat). Luckily Haritina came to the rescue, as well as several people getting amazing results with handheld cell phone shots of good quality! This was an unexpected display, but it was an amazing finale to another great Stardate!
Check out the Stardate 2026 gallery on Flickr
Ian Cooper
President
T.P.A.S.
