The venue for the 2008 RASNZ conference will be the Godley Resort Hotel at Lake Tekapo, phone 0800 835 576 or 03 680 6848. Dates are Friday 23 May to Sunday 25 May. The conference is being hosted by the Canterbury Astronomical Society. Registration forms are available on this site.
The after dinner speaker will be Graeme Murray. Graeme is Director of Earth & Sky Ltd, with operations based at Lake Tekapo and offering tours to the Mt john Observatory. He is also the past Chairman of the Mackenzie Tourism and Development Board and a current Director of the new Mount Cook Mackenzie Development Trust. Graeme will be speaking on the proposal for the UNESCO World Heritage Starlight Reserve at Tekapo.
The conference will be preceded by a full day workshop on CCD photometry presented by Tom Richards, starting on the Friday morning. The workshop will introduce attendees to the principles and practice of CCD photometry as applied to brightness measurements of variable stars and asteroids. The technique to be studied is unfiltered differential time-series photometry.
Numbers for the workshop will be strictly limited, so anyone wishing to attend should make an early registration. More details are available as a pdf file from which you can also pre-register your interest.
CCD Workshop now full!
As of 6 February the number limit for the workshop has been reached. If you still wish to attend, contact Pauline Loader to place your name on a waiting list.
We intend to stay on for lunch at the café and head back to Tekapo, arriving mid-afternoon.
Registration forms are available for download in two formats, PDF and RTF. PDF forms can be printed, completed and returned by mail. Cheques should be made payable to "CAS RASNZ Conference 2008". RTF forms can be used to complete a registration on line and payment made by internet banking.
Registration for the Friday CCD Workshop can be made on the same forms. Early registration is encouraged particularly for the number limited workshop. All registrations should be made by April 1, particularly if assistance with arranging transport is required.
The registration fee includes the costs of morning and afternoon tea on Saturday, morning tea on Sunday and lunch on Saturday and the conference CD. Sunday lunch is not included. Registration for the Friday CCD Workshop includes the costs of morning and afternoon teas, lunch and handout materials.
Registration form, PDF format Registration form, RTF format.
Bryan King is a Director of Modus Lighting Ltd, a leading company in urban lighting and streetlighting in New Zealand. Bryan is professional member of the Illuminating Engineering Society and a 25 year veteran of the lighting industry and was the Founding Chairman of Lighting Council New Zealand. He has held a number of positions on Standards Committees and Government Advisory Panels. His current role is as a researcher and activist on sustainable urban lighting.
As of 2008 Bryan is a Graduate Researcher at the Massey University Centre for Energy Research. The scope of this program is the investigation of the technology, economics and politics of new generation sustainable streetlighting. This is a research-only program that will explore leading edge international technology developments in streetlighting and establish models applicable for Australasian conditions.
Other speakers include:
Rod Austin: "A Hermit's existence - Eight years on a mountain."Poster Papers:
Ian Bond, Massey University: "Photometry Challenges in Microlensing Observations by MOA"
Mita Brierley, U. C. student: "High Resolution Spectral Models for Globular Clusters"
Steve Butler, director of RASNZ Dark Sky group: "Nighttime - Our Environment".
Dr Grant Christie: "The discovery of a planetary system containing a Jupiter/Saturn analog by gravitational microlensing"
Dr Peter Cottrell, University of Canterbury: "R Coronae Borealis stars and related objects - a case study for 25 years of observing at Mt John"
Dr. Larry Field, Canterbury Astronomical Society: "Hands-on Testing of Eyepieces"
Prof John Hearnshaw, University of Canterbury: "Mt John University Observatory: the past, the present and the future"
Christopher Henderson, U. C. student:"Our Neighbouring Interstellar Cavities"
Gordon Hudson: "The Refurbishment of 3 NZ Cooke Refractors"
Roland Idaczyk: "Exoplanet-transit search at Crows Nest Observatory"
Pam Kilmartin: "99942 Apophis; close encounter 2029 and beyond"
Warwick Kissling: "Weak Gravitational Lensing II - Observations and Prospects"
Florian Maisonneuve U. C. student: "Spectral type L and T brown dwarfs and stars"
Ashley Marles CAS: "Developments at the Canterbury Astronomical Society's R.F. Joyce Observatory at West Melton, Christchurch"
Euan Mason CAS: "Eyepieces: designs, aberrations, and essential calculations for astronomical observers"
Dr Orlon Petterson: "Developments in Astronomical Computing"
Hana Schumacher U. C. student: "Analysis of the W UMa type eclipsing binary V752 Centauri"
Rachel Soja U. C. student: "Meteoroid Dynamics"
Dr Denis Sullivan, Victoria University: "Mt John Dark Skies and Faint White Dwarfs."
Vincent Thompson: U. C. student "Radial Velocity Measurements with HERCULES"
Robyn Woollands: U. C. student "R Coronae Borealis stars in the Magellanic Clouds"
Colin Bembrick and Bill Allen: "Trans-Tasman Collaboration in Asteroid Research"
Brian Loader: "Observations of Lunar Occultations of Double Stars"
C.Clare Worley: "s-Process Element Abundances throughout the CMD of 47 Tuc"
The conference will be presenting some aspects of the work at Mt John observatory, past and present. Also, in view of the prospects for a dark sky park centred on Mt John and Lake Tekapo, some emphasis on preserving dark skies. However presentations will not be limited to these topics. If you would like to present a paper on any astronomical topic, complete a submission form. If you have any queries about presenting papers, or other matters relating to the conference, send an email to conference@rasnz.org.nz.
Further details of the 2008 conference will be placed on this web site as they become available.