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

Fans of Star Trek will know how easily the starship enterprize slips into “Warp Drive”, navigating interstellar space in minutes ! Is this really possible in the distant future ? how does the physics on this stack up ?

The latest research gives some interesting findings ….

It has been ages since I have posted and I apologize for the break in transmission ! I have been very busy moving and setting up house, a bit of a lifestyle change !

Well back to the science and this little segment on the findings on the origins of the hydrocarbon lakes on Saturn’s Moon Titan. Some very interesting research has been done, on why they are there  ……

There are some strange objects in deep space, but if these probes find what space scientists hope, it will be one of the strangest discoveries of all, and will go a long way to proving a long held theory about the creation of our moon ….

Records in science come along quite often, but this record breaking gamma ray burst leaves all the others in the dust ……