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Mount Cook kicks off the STAR PARTY!

As part of the International Year of Astronomy The Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre joined and Hermitage hotel guests were among the first to kick off the world's biggest free STAR PARTY!!! A 100 hour, round-the-clock, round-the-globe event. It included live web casts from research observatories, public sidewalk observing events and other activities to celebrate the International Year of Astronomy 2009. One of the key goals of this event was to allow as many people as possible to look through a telescope—day or night, just as Galileo did some 400 years ago.

We held free stargazing sessions on the lawns outside The Hermitage - not only one of the best places to view the southern night but also one of the funnest!!!

The Pot sets over Mount Cook Village Stargazing - In New Zealand the central part of the constellation is often called "The Pot". Mt Sefton, about 8 km away, is to the left of the black telescope, a Celestron C11. LH telescope is a 12 inch f6 homemade 24 yr old “porthole and cardboard tube” Dobsonian. The two telescopes illustrate two ends of the technology spectrum - one made cheaply from bits and pieces, and the other complete with GPS, precision motors, huge database, and complex optics. Both gave excellent views of Saturn. Photographer: John Dunlop







Moon-set beside Mt Footstool during stargazing - The Moon is setting to the left of Footstool, a local mountain about 9 km away. Mt Cook, the highest mountain in New Zealand, is visible above the red hat. It is about 20 km away. The head of Leo is to the right above Mt Wakefield. The telescope is a Celestron CPC 11. About 60 people came to the 100HA event at this remote location at 8pm on Thursday 2nd April 2009. Photographer: John Dunlop