Haley’s comet is the best known of all the comets, and this meteor shower is one of 2  chances each year to catch some of its dusty debris burning up in our Atmosphere … It has passed us now having peaked on the 22nd of October, but it is a timely reminder to watch out for the upcoming Geminid Meteor Shower on the 14th of December ….

With the upsurge in Cosmic ray activity in the atmosphere of mother earth and in line with the article I published recently. I speak of the matter with my Co-host Rob on the science Hour at Gove FM. So what is the signifigance of these cosmic rays and how does it interact with climate change on our planet …. ?

Tuesday 17-11 (CST) Australia:

I was able to observe 20 leonids this morning between 4 and 5 am.
2 of them were quite bright and prolonged (2 to 3 sec)
2 more were point source and quite surprising to see.

We will be out there again in the am tomorrow, for what I hope will be a much better show
on the leading edge of the predicted asian peak Asian Peak of up to 500/hr.

Wednesday 18-11 (CST) Australia:

Another good morning for the Leonids here in Nhulunbuy.
Six of us from GAA were out at out at “Middle Carpark” looking over the Arafura sea.
Notch was the first there at 3:30am and along with Dave and Peter were lucky enough to see one Leonid fireball, moving from east to west and lasting several seconds.
They were joined by myself, Francois and Bruce & all up there were 70 Leonids sighted till the sky grew too bright at 5am.
So I guess an average of 50/hr is a fair assesment. More than double yesterday mornings count.
One of the best Leonid showings since 2001, so worth getting up for !

I would love to hear some reports of the Asian Leonids peak, did you get a “1/2 storm” as predicted ?

Preserving the dark skies of the world and raising awareness of this critical conservation effort is one of the cornerstone projects of the International Year of astronomy. I speak with Graham Murry of the Earth and Sky observatory at Mt John on their efforts to take a leading role in this field, in my third and final interview of my NZ tour …..

Now, most of the time those of us who are astronomers have a gaze fixed skyward, but if you were anywhere in the top end of Australia or in the Banda sea region in the early hours of Sunday morning (12:10am CST ) the 25th of October your concerns would have been much more earthly.
An earthquake in the Banda sea at magnitude 6.9 saw tremors, that my estimate puts between Magnitude 4 and 4.5 were felt by all (who did not sleep through it !)
I would love to hear your report of the tremor, in the comments below.

PS: I have done a science show segment on the quake that I will post up here shortly ……

In this second interview I discuss the History, current projects and the future for NZ’s #1 research telescope “the Moa” on Mt John. I am speaking with Alan Gilmore, the resident superintendent at the Mt John Observatory. Alan is a prolific co-discoverer of Asteroids with his partner Pamela Kilmartin, having over 40 asteroids to his name, just to mention one of his many achievements.

We also cover progress in the search for dark matter through to the latest successful discovery of Exo-planets by the Gravity Micro Lensing surveys, being conducted by the Moa team ….

Saturn has been studied in great detail since the arrival of the Cassini Probe there several years ago. But new discoveries are still being made, now as Saturn turns it rings edge on to us …….

As promised here is the first in a series of interviews from the Mt John Observatory in NZ.

First up I speak to Ade Ashford, a professional Astronomer, Former editor of a major astronomy magazine and an Astro guide at the Earth & Sky Observatory on Mt John, by the beautiful Aqua waters of Lake Tekapo and surrounded by the magficent Southern Alps …….

Well here I am in the delightful South Island of New Zealand. I have been to the Observatory that is at the forefront of Astronomical research here in NZ. Yes, none other than the Mt John Observatory at Lake Tekapo in Mckenzie Country west of Timaru in the shadow of Mt Cook and the Southern Alps.

I have recorded some great interviews with the people that run the Earth & Sky observatory & The Moa research telescope. The Moa telescope is at the cutting edge of Exo Planet discovery in NZ.

Stay tuned to ATSG.com for the upcoming interviews !

Ian Maclean