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2020 ONLINE CONFERENCE TALKS – 2020 RASNZ On-Line Conference Presentations
Here is the schedule of talks that have been arranged for the 2020 on-line RASNZ Conference. For abstracts and any last-minute changes please check out the RASNZ website (www.rasnz.org.nz).
The talks will be streamed via RASNZ’s YouTube channel. Please go to – https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjE5Y-Eg2fkrfofBkDt3_EQ and subscribe to RASNZ’s channel.
The only software you will need to watch these presentations is a web browser pointed to the RASNZ channel where all talks will be made available for later viewing.
2020 RASNZ On-Line Conference Programme
To be streamed via RASNZ’s YouTube Channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjE5Y-Eg2fkrfofBkDt3_EQ
Tuesday 27 October, 7:30 pm
Katie Bouman
Imaging a black hole with the Event Horizon Telescope
A recording of 2019 public talk at Caltech, used
with Katie Bouman’s permission. 60 min.
Thursday 29 October, 7:30 pm
Rene Breton
Einstein’s Relativity: tested to the limit with pulsars
A recording of 2018 public talk to the RAS London,
used with Rene Breton’s permission. 60 min.
Tuesday 3 November, 7:30 pm
Nick Rattenbury
Te Pūnaha Ātea Auckland Space Institute (20 min)
I present Te Pūnaha Ātea Auckland Space Institute, a new Centre at The University of Auckland. I will give an overview of our research including in-orbit operations for space situational awareness, debris monitoring and removal, educational programmes, and our research in orbit planet detection via the NASA/GFSC RamJET project. I will give a summary of the satellite missions developed from the Auckland Programme for Space Systems. I will also present Te Pūnaha Ātea Auckland Space Institute research supporting a mission to the upper atmosphere of Venus, with a goal of detecting extremophile life.
Tom Love
Chasing rainbows: spectroscopy with small telescopes (20 min)
Recent years have seen the emergence of off the shelf equipment and software that make it possible to carry out a range of useful spectroscopic observations with amateur scale telescopes. This paper briefly describes some of the available equipment and techniques, gives examples of spectroscopic observations being made by amateur astronomers around the world, and describes some of the resources available to support those who want to try such observations.
Shaun Hotchkiss
The non-linear Schrodinger equation in cosmology (20 min, pre-recorded)
The non-linear Schrodinger equation shows up in many places in cosmology. This includes “fuzzy dark matter”, “axion stars” and a potential period of early matter domination right after inflation.
I will talk about why this equation is so ubiquitous and the interesting new phenomena that arise when it is relevant. This includes the formation of solitonic structures and smoothing out of sharp cusps at the centre of gravitationally bound structures, and the formation of granular blobs in those structures’ outskirts.
Tuesday 10 November, 7:30 pm
Heloise Stevance
How old is Matariki? (30 min)
The age of Matariki (a.ka. the Pleiades), has previously been found to be around 100 million years old, but could it be older than that? In order to determine the age of a star cluster, astronomers rely on theoretical models of stellar evolution and compare
those to current observations. In the past couple of decades, binary interactions have been shown to play a crucial role in how stars live and how they grow old. However, the age of most star clusters (including Matariki) has been inferred by using single stars only! Our team has set out to change that with a new tool called AgeWizard, and it seems that the Seven Sisters might be older than we previously thought.
Steve Butler
Measuring the night (20 min)
No description given
Tuesday 17 November, 7:30 pm
Nick Rattenbury
The Kerr-Tinsley Centre of Research Excellence (20 min)
I present here a summary of the application made by NZ academic astronomers for funding the Kerr-Tinsley Centre of Research Excellence. The CoRE application has five themes, extending from cosmological research, through stellar population, computational astrophysics to proposing New Zealand’s first space telescope mission.
Ed Budding
Collaborative studies of southern close binary systems: a progress report (20 min)
A programme of studies of southern eclipsing binary stars, underway during the last decade has involved spectroscopic observations at the University of Canterbury’s Mt John Observatory, photometric data from the RASNZ-VSS and various other international resources available on internet, together with appropriate software development. Examples of facilities and materials used are shown, together with
some recent results. Absolute stellar parameters derived from these studies allow insights into a number of topics in stellar formation and evolution.
Petra Nianqi Tang
Estimating spectral density for the stochastic gravitational wave background for LISA (20 min, pre-recorded)
Tuesday 24 November, 7:30 pm
JJ Eldridge
Understanding the stars that create gravitational wave transients (30 min, pre recorded)
No description given
Max Briel
Observing transients in a simulated universe (30 min)
Transients are short, on an astronomical timescale, duration events compared to the evolution of galaxies and stars. Gravitational wave events and supernovae are two main types of transients. Supernovae – the explosion at the end of a star’s life – have been measured for centuries, but gravitational waves from the merger of two compact objects were measured for the first time in 2016. The rate of both of these events relate to the number of stars being formed over the history of the Universe and the evolution of binary star systems. Using stellar population synthesis and cosmological simulation of the universe, we predict the number of transients taking place in a synthetic universe, similar to ours, and discuss what they tell us about the evolution of binaries.
Tuesday 1 December, 7:30 pm
John Hearnshaw
New Zealand’s progress towards becoming a dark-sky nation (30 min)
No description given
John Drummond
Murray Geddes, an assiduous NZ observer of meteors, sunspots and variable stars – as well as aurora and comets (20 min)
Murray Geddes was described as ‘an assiduous observer of meteors, sunspots and variable stars’. In addition, Geddes discovered a comet in 1932. He also developed a deep interest in aurora which led to an international collaboration with professional astronomers and significant contributions to the understanding of aurora. Unfortunately for the astronomical community (and others) his life was cut short when aged 35 during WW2. The RASNZ honours this New Zealand man’s achievements with the Murray Geddes Memorial Prize named after him.
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