Starry, starry NIGHT

Some of the best star gazing in the world is right here, in our back yard

When you learn that the universe contains billions of galaxies and that each galaxy contains millions and in some case billions of stars, it’s enough to make your brain explode.

How on earth can you get your head around that? The good news is that you’re in the right country. New Zealand is one of the best places on this planet to explore the night sky. Our sky is so clear and clean that the world’s largest Dark Sky Reserve (in the Mackenzie region) and the only Dark Sky Sanctuary (on Aotea/ Great Barrier Island) are here. And did you notice when we were in level 4 lockdown how many more stars were visible? Less pollution. It’s that, and fewer street, car and porch lights blazing that makes star gazing here so good.

If you want to learn about what you’re looking at, you could download a star app or take an astronomy book, torch and a blanket out to your back yard – but possibly your best options are to join a night sky tour or visit a planetarium.

Night sky tours, such as ones that operate on Great Barrier Island in the Hauraki Gulf, take you on a magical guided journey through the heavens. An ambassador armed with laser pointer, telescope and an astronomical amount of knowledge will describe the solar system, point out the planets, the galaxies, the constellations, prominent southern sky stars... You’ll see objects that are billions of years old, light years away and, yes, it will be mindboggling! But reassuring to hear them named and awesome, in the real sense of the word.

Aotea/Great Barrier Island is especially brilliant at night because it’s off the grid so has very little light pollution but there are more than 40 locations from top to toe of New Zealand where night sky viewing is recommended. These are listed on the official New Zealand Astronomy website.

When you’re ready to take it up a notch, to experience a more detailed view of outer space, consider visiting one of New Zealand’s astronomy attractions and spy the sky through a super sophisticated telescope. There are seven sites open to the public for such telescope viewing and planetarium shows.

Star Places

• Perpetual Guardian Planetarium – Otago Museum, Dunedin

• Skyline Stargazing Tours, Queenstown

• Sir Edmund Hillary Alpine Centre, Canterbury

• Dark Sky Project, Mt John, Tekapō

• Space Place at Carter Observatory, Wellington

• Stonehenge Aotearoa, Wairarapa

• Stardome Observatory & Planetarium, Auckland

Mt Heale Hutt, Great Barrier Island

credit ATEED