Available Speakers

The people listed below have offered to talk to RASNZ Affiliated Societies. Note that the Gifford-Eiby Memorial Lectureship Fund is available to help with costs so that speakers from around New Zealand can travel to your location.

Steve Butler Email: s_butler@xtra.co.nz Phone: 027 3511 562, Southland Astronomical Society

  • Dark sky

Steve Chadwick Email: stevechads@hotmail.com Mobile: 021-054-8647, Horowhenua Astronomical Society

Grant ChristieEmail: grantwchristie@gmail.com Mobile: 021-024-04992, Auckland Astronomical Society

John Drummond (MSc - Astronomy)

Email: kiwiastronomer@gmail.com Mobile: 0275 609 287.

Gisborne Astronomical Society.

  • Astrophotography - a range of topics
  • Deeply imaging interacting galaxies
  • Comets and meteors
  • A range of other topics - or let me know if you want a specific one...

Richard Hall

Email: Hamal@xtra.co.nz

  • Life in the Universe
  • Exploration of Space

Jennie McCormick Email: farmcoveobs@xtra.co.nz Phone: (09) 576 9815, Auckland Astronomical Society

  • From horses to telescopes
  • Astronomical research at Farm Cove Observatory
  • Fire in the Sky: The 1999 Taranaki Daylight Fireball

Glenn Urquhart Email: glenn.urquhart@xtra.co.nz Mobile: 027-4535120, Palmerston North

  • The Comprehensible Cosmos
  • God: The Failed Hypothesis
  • Nothing happens for a reason

New Zealand law concerning High Powered Lasers

Law concerning the sale or supply of high powered laser pointers (greater than 1mW) has been introduced in New Zealand. There are special provisions to allow astronomical societies to obtain such pointers for astronomical use. See the details supplied by the Ministry of Health.

Laser Pointer Guidance

ASTRONZ Laser Pointer safety sheet (Word document): ASTRONZ single page document describing risks and New Zealand legal requirements for ownership and use of laser pointers.

Affiliated Society's Laser Pointer usage Guidelines (.pdf)