Exploring the History of New Zealand Astronomy ― Trials, Tribulations, Telescopes and Transits

Dr. Orchiston is a foremost authority on the subject of New Zealand astronomy, and here are the collected papers of his fruitful studies in this area, including both those published many years ago and new material. The papers herein review traditional Maori astronomy, examine the appearance of nautical astronomy practiced by Cook and his astronomers on their various stopovers in New Zealand during their three voyagers to the South Seas, and also explore notable nineteenth century New Zealand observatories historically, from significant telescopes now located in New Zealand to local and international observations made during the 1874 and 1882 transits of Venus and the nineteenth and twentieth century preoccupation of New Zealand amateur astronomers with comets and meteors.

New Zealand astronomy has a truly rich history, extending from the Maori civilization in pre-European times through to the years when explorers and navigators discovered the region, up to pioneering research on the newly emerging field of radio astronomy during WWII and in the immediate post-war years. A complete survey of a neglected but rich national astronomical history, this does the subject full and comprehensive justice.

Professor Wayne Orchiston is a Senior Researcher at the National Astronomical Research Institute in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and formerly worked in optical and radio astronomy in Australia and New Zealand. He has published on the history of Australian, English, French, Georgian, Indian, Indonesian, Iraqi, Japanese, New Zealand and USA astronomy, and has supervised a large pool of graduate students. Like Tsuko Nakamura, Wayne has played a leading role in developing the history of astronomy through the International Astronomical Union Commission 41, and was responsible for the formation of the Historic Radio Astronomy and Transits of Venus Working Groups. He is the Editor of the Journal of Astronomical History and Heritage.