Bryan King, Guest Speaker: "New Technology Streetlighting - Implications for Light Pollution"

As astronomers are well aware, the impact of inappropriate technology and inadequate design in streetlighting can greatly restrict the ability to study and appreciate our night sky.

In very recent years the pace of technological advances in streetlighting has been vastly greater than that of previous decades. Quite amazing tools and techniques are now available and cost effective, enabling the creation of city centre and streetlighting systems that deliver energy efficient and sustainable lighting solutions that are also much kinder to our night skies. Whilst the economic and political mantras of "energy efficiency" and "sustainability" have been the driving forces, the waste minimisation ethos fortuitously delivers considered light levels and spill light restriction.

There are still a host of institutional barriers that slow the uptake of better approaches, but the good news is that the world of public lighting is getting very much better at limiting and controlling the unwanted effects of urban lighting.

This presentation gives an overview of the improved technologies and techniques that are applicable to New Zealand conditions. The international regulatory and Compliance Standards climate for streetlighting design is discussed, as well as the current and probable future scenarios in New Zealand. The role and influence of Government intervention, both central and local is outlined and a view portrayed of what the intermediate future may hold for New Zealand astronomers.

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Graeme Murray, After Dinner Speaker: "Protecting a most valuable Heritage
- The Starlight Reserve initiative".

The idea, the dream, the obstacles of an incredible journey to try and establish the World's first World Heritage National Park in the Sky. A Starlight Reserve to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy in 2009. From Tekapo to Paris and back to Fairlie.

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Fellows' Lecture, Alan Gilmore: "From Tin Shed to CCD: the first 46 years of Mt John Observatory"

Site testing began on Mt John in the second half of 1962 with much help from local volunteers. By December 1962, when the author worked on the site, the caravan and tin shed for the site testing telescope were already supplemented by a building for Frank Bateson's refractor. The formal selection of Mt John as the Observatory's site was made in mid-1963. By then work was well underway on the Astrograph Building and the 16-inch dome as well as the Borealis Quarters building. Within the next few years the house and a second quarters building were built along with the Bamberg building. The US Air Force satellite tracking station arrived in 1969, funding a reliable water supply and a sealed road. The 60-cm Optical Craftsmen telescope was added in 1970 and the similar-sized Boller and Chivens (B&C) five years later. After the Tracking Station closed in 1983 its building was modified to house the 1-metre McLellan telescope and become the quarters for visiting observers. CCDs were purchased and the HERCULES spectrograph was added to the 1-metre in the 1988-2002 interval. The MOA programme began on the B&C in 1996 resulting in the 1.8-metre MOA telescope arriving in 2004. This talk is a pictorial history of the site and its telescopes.

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Rod Austin: "A Hermit's existence - Eight years on a mountain"

A brief summary of life and living on the top of a mountain, while pursuing one's hobby - and getting paid for it.

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Ian Bond: "Photometry Challenges in Microlensing Observations by MOA"

The MOA Project has been in operation at Mt John since the late 1990's and has been using wide-field large format CCD mosaic cameras to carry out microlensing observations. Its primary objectives are to search for extrasolar planets using the microlensing. This poses considerable challenges in extracting photometric data from the CCD images because of the large volumes of data generated, the large size of the CCD field, and the fact that the target fields are in densely crowded regions of the sky. The technique of difference imaging analysis has been a highly effective tool in the processing of MOA data. I will describe how the technique works in general and in particular describe how it has been applied to MOA. I will also the key role this technique has played in the discovery of extrasolar planets by gravitational microlensing.

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Mita Brierley: "High Resolution Spectral Models for Globular Clusters"

The current generation of 8-10m telescopes and the upcoming generation of extremely large telescopes will allow high resolution spectroscopy of extragalactic globular clusters. The current traditional Lick index system used to determine the age and metallicities of these clusters cannot fully utilize the resolution of these new observations. To increase the precision of abundance analysis of moderate to high resolution spectra, we are currently developing high resolution model spectra of simple-stellar-populations. I will describe the construction of our models and present an initial comparison of these models with moderate resolution, integrated-light spectra of Milky Way globular clusters.

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Steve Butler: "Nighttime - Our Environment"

While the nighttime environment is important to astronomers, it does not receive particular protection in most environmental planning documents. This presentation will build the case for protecting this other half of our world.

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Dr Grant Christie: "The discovery of a planetary system containing a Jupiter/Saturn analog by gravitational microlensing"

Small telescopes (0.2-0.5m) have proved to be surprisingly effective for the follow-up of high magnification gravitational microlensing events, the very events that are most sensitive to exoplanet detection. This paper will present an overview of the first microlensing event to detect two planets. These planets are an analog of Jupiter and Saturn in terms of mass, orbit and temperature. This new planetary system is the closest match yet found to our own and implies that such systems should be common, if not the norm.

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Dr Peter Cottrell: "R Coronae Borealis stars and related objects - a case study for 25 years of observing at Mt John".

Since first arriving at the University of Canterbury in May 1982 I became involved in the acquisition and analysis of photometric and spectroscopic data on the highly variable R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars and related objects.

In this talk I will present our work from the earliest times on the brightest examples of the RCB stars in our Galaxy, through to the latest photometric work on RCB stars in the Magellanic Clouds.

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Dr. Larry Field: "Hands-on Testing of Eyepieces".

Forty-eight eyepieces (Plossl, widefield, orthoscopic) were compared in terms of lateral chromatic aberration, field curvature and coma. The results indicated that performance is related to eyepiece design, focal length and brand. An averaged performance index was plotted against price of these eyepieces.

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Prof John Hearnshaw: "Mt John University Observatory: the past, the present and the future".

I will highlight the main achievements of Mt John over its 43-year history. A number of interesting new projects are now underway or imminent. The opportunities for research, education and public outreach in astronomy at Mt John are as strong as ever, but the future viability of the observatory is looking quite uncertain. It will depend on funding, people and much determination if Mt John is to reach its fiftieth birthday in the same good health we have enjoyed hitherto.

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Christopher Henderson: "Our Neighbouring Interstellar Cavities"

Our Sun is located within a region of very little interstellar medium, termed the Local Bubble. Through various physical processes tunnels, clouds, bubbles and other structures are formed in the interstellar medium. I will present an overview of our current knowledge of the Local Bubble and its surroundings. I will also present new maps of two tunnels connecting the Bubble to other cavities, done as part of my MSc research.

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Gordon Hudson: "The Refurbishment of 3 New Zealand Cooke Refractors".

The refurbishment of three very old and famous NZ Cooke refractors - the 3.5" RASNZ Cooke Refractor on loan to Carter Observatory, the Atkinson 5" Cooke Refractor of 1890 at Nelson Observatory and the Ward 9.5" Cooke Refractor of 1859 at Ward Observatory, Wanganui. The presentation will show the various stages from before refurbishment to the finished version when in each case these instruments are put back into full working order.

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Roland Idaczyk: "Exoplanet-transit search at Crows Nest Observatory".

This paper introduces the new private Crows Nest Observatory (CNO) in Wellington, its instrumentation and the progress in setting up a programme to search for extra-solar planets using the transit method. This method puts high demands on the accuracy of photometric observations and data reduction. The procedures are described in detail and examples shown.

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Pam Kilmartin: "99942 Apophis; close encounter 2029 and beyond".

A minor planet discovered in 2004 has an orbit that brings it frequently close to the earth. In 2029 it will pass so close that it will be visible to the naked eye as a third magnitude star. In recognition of this close pass, and its possible danger it to the earth, it has been named Apophis, after a serpent in ancient Egyptian mythology.

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Warwick Kissling: "Weak Gravitational Lensing II - Observations and Prospects".

Following a brief overview of the theory of weak gravitational lensing, in this talk I will concentrate on the observational side of the subject. The key to making successful weak lensing observations is understanding how seeing conditions, optical aberrations, pixelation effects and detector noise all conspire to overwhelm the tiny distortions in galaxy images that we are trying to measure. I will present initial results of a study to investigate the potential for weak lensing observations at Mt John using the 1.8 m MOA telescope.

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Florian Maisonneuve: "Spectral type L and T brown dwarfs and stars"

The first observations of brown dwarfs were done in the 1990's, and their classification in two spectral types occurred shortly after that. We will see how this classification was made, talk about brown dwarf properties and discuss the transition between L and T dwarfs.

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Ashley Marles: "Developments at the Canterbury Astronomical Society's R.F. Joyce Observatory at West Melton, Christchurch"

Over the last year, the members of the Canterbury Astronomical Society have made many improvements to the facilities and site at the West Melton Observatory and have been using the telescopes for a variety of projects and observations. I will give a review of what has been happening out there and our plans for the future.

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Euan Mason: "Eyepieces: designs, aberrations, and essential calculations for astronomical observers"

Many new eyepiece designs have been developed over the last 400 years, and these fall into just a few general categories. These categories are described briefly, and critical properties of each design are outlined, including a range of different aberrations that affect the quality of the image rendered for astronomical observers. Some very basic, but essential calculations are presented that can help observers to select eyepieces that will enhance their viewing experiences.

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Dr Orlon Petterson: "Developments in Astronomical Computing"

Recent developments in the Research and Education fields in the provisioning of computing resources promise to revolutionise the way Astronomers work and share their discoveries. I will speak about several recent developments affecting New Zealand Astronomers, the Kiwi Advanced Research and Education Network (KAREN), GRID computing on a global scale and virtualised computing.

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Hana Schumacher: "Analysis of the W UMa type eclipsing binary V752 Centauri"

V752 Centauri is a short period eclipsing binary of W Uma-type. It has a period of 0.370 days. Previous studies have determined the target to belong to the W class of W UMa stars, having the primary eclipse due to an occultation of the primary. Photometric and spectroscopic observations of this target have been made at the University of Canterbury's Mt John Observatory during 2007 using the high resolution HERCULES spectrograph. The modelling package PHOEBE has been used to determine the solution of V752 Centauri. I have studied this star along with two others as part of a MSc thesis completed in late February 2008.

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Rachel Soja: "Meteoroid Dynamics"

This talk provides an overview of meteoroid dynamical characteristics, which may be evident as cometary or asteroidal streams, resonant structure, or sources caused by the effects of radiation forces on meteoroid orbits. The possible occurrence of such structure in large radar datasets is discussed, along with the use of clustering techniques.

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Dr Denis Sullivan: "Mt John Dark Skies and Faint White Dwarfs."

Since the early 1990s my observing activities at Mt John have been largely focussed on pulsating white dwarf stars. These are faint objects (the brightest target is almost magnitude 14 (V)), so the combination of the one metre telescope, a quality photometer and the Lake Tekapo dark skies has played a key role in their study. In this talk I'll discuss a range of data sets that reflect different photometers and observing conditions, but still allow one to probe the properties of these objects that dominate the end result of the evolution of all stars.

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Vincent Thompson: "Radial Velocity Measurements with HERCULES"

Radial velocity measurements of a standard star were made using HERCULES and the limit to precision was not photon noise as expected. The existence of modal noise in white lamp spectra and a simple cure for it was investigated.

Findings of this work showed the scatter in radial velocity measurements made with HERCULES was approximately twenty m/s, even for low signal to noise ratios (S/N <100). The scatter was in the order of ten times smaller than measurements used for orbital solutions of some southern spectroscopic binaries.

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Robyn Woollands: "R Coronae Borealis stars in the Magellanic Clouds"

R Coronae Borealis (RCB) stars exhibit a unique variability whereby they undergo enigmatic and rapid declines of up to several magnitudes. The period of a decline may take several weeks, whereas the recovery to maximum light may take months or even years. This talk presents an ongoing analysis of a survey of the known RCB stars in the Magellanic Clouds, in which several features of the detected decline and recovery phases are discussed. In addition, the nature of the dust particles ejected into the stellar atmosphere causing a decline are mentioned. Photometric data for this analysis was collected using the Southern African Large Telescope, the Optical Craftsmen Telescope at Mt John University Observatory and the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment telescopes.

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Colin Bembrick and Bill Allen: Poster Paper: "Trans-Tasman Collaboration in Asteroid Research"

The two authors have been collaborating on asteroid research since 2004 and have papers on more than 11 asteroids published in the Minor Planet Bulletin. In addition 6 other amateurs in Australia have formed part of this team which has contributed ti spin period determination, shape modelling and spacecraft mission support.

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Brian Loader: Poster Paper: "Observations of Lunar Occultations of Double Stars"

Some results will be displayed of the observation and recording of lunar occultations of double stars obtained by using video cameras, together with time stamping. These will include instances where the event has been observed by more than one observer enabling accurate determinations of the position angle and separation of the double to be made.

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C.Clare Worley: Poster Paper: "s-Process Element Abundances throughout the CMD of 47 Tuc"

A recent study by Wylie et al (2006) has revealed that s-process element abundances are enhanced relative to iron in both red giant branch (RGB) and asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars of 47 Tuc. While it could be argued that the s-process element abundance results in the AGB stars were the result of internal nucleosynthesis and dredge-up of this processed material, it is thought that the luminosity at which this is observed is too low for currently accepted models of third dredge-up. Consequently, there is a need to undertake more detailed investigations throughout the colour-magnitude diagram (CMD) of 47 Tuc to investigate the possibility that the s-process element abundance enhancements in the RGB and AGB stars are intrinsic to the cluster.