Good Heavens

22/10/2024

20/10/2024

Comet alert!! Finally a bit of clear sky on the horizon. Taken 3 min. ago, on my smart phone. The comet is hard to make out with the naked eye. The bright 'star' to the left and above is Venus.

20/10/2024

Inspiration for some walks to do while you are waiting for you Stargazing Experience 🤩

Some say Aotea has some of the best walks in NZ, including the multi-day Aotea Track.

Would you agree? 🚶‍♂️🚶‍♀️🚶

14/10/2024

Hoping to see the comet tonight! And the next few nights.✨️ Here's where to look. 👀

Starting this week and with a bit of luck and good viewing conditions, you may be able to spot a small comet in our evening skies as it leaves our Solar System!

Comet C/2023 A3 Tsuchinshan-ATLAS appeared in our early morning skies in late September into October as it moved closer to the Sun, though it was faint and hard to see to an untrained eye. It has now passed its closest point to the Sun and is now exiting away from the Sun and rising higher in our evening skies.

To see this comet, you will need a clear unobstructed view of the western horizon after sunset along with clear weather. The comet will move higher in our skies each evening, but as it does it will move away from the Sun and decrease in brightness, making it harder to spot. You can use the bright Venus as a guide. This will be your only chance to see this comet as it will not return to our Solar System for at least 80,000 years.

Please note that this particular comet is no Halley’s Comet and is not overly bright and can be hard to see with an untrained eye. The best viewing conditions will be made easier with help from a pair of binoculars, a camera, or a small telescope. Light pollution will also make it next to impossible to spot from our cities with the naked eye. We recommend getting out of the city to get the best chance to see this celestial visitor on its brief visit. If you are here in Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland, the west coast will offer the best viewing locations in the city (Piha, Muriwai, Waitakere etc).

03/10/2024

Come for a sprinkle of stardust!

28/09/2024

Discover the night! And... ! ✨️

For billions of years, all life has relied on Earth’s predictable rhythm of day and night. It’s encoded in the DNA of all plants and animals. Humans have radically disrupted this cycle by lighting up the night.

Plants and animals depend on Earth’s daily cycle of light and dark to govern life-sustaining behaviors such as reproduction, nourishment, sleep, and protection from predators. Scientific evidence suggests that artificial light at night has negative and deadly effects on many creatures, including amphibians, birds, mammals, fish, insects, and plants.

To learn more about how light pollution affects wildlife visit https://bit.ly/3Vi1WXW

📷 Photo by Liliana Schönberger

18/09/2024

Interesting for us islanders! 🤩

Join us for an enlightening Night Matters lecture from Professor Tim Smyth of the Plymouth Marine Laboratory. As the author of the global atlas of artificial light at night under the sea, Professor Smyth will discuss the unseen consequences of light pollution on marine environments. Exploring the wide-ranging and less understood effects of artificial light on the disruption of coral spawning, interference with turtle navigation, altered migration patterns of zooplankton, changes in predator-prey interactions, and attraction of fish and seabirds to light sources.

Don't miss this opportunity to understand the critical impacts of artificial light on our oceans and what we can do to help. 🐟💙

Link to register https://bit.ly/3XF09Ns

15/09/2024

Easy to spend a week on Aotea Great Barrier Island Read more in this article.

Make sure you earn your ‘beach time’ this summer.

26/08/2024

Deborah Kilgallon 21! ✨️

Exciting news! The Isle of Rum has been officially designated as Scotland's first International Dark Sky Sanctuary, making it one of only 21 such sanctuaries worldwide. This recognition honors the hard work of the Isle of Rum Community Trust and NatureScot in preserving the island's pristine night skies and natural environment.

As a small island with a population of just 40, Rum is setting a powerful example in sustainable tourism and environmental protection. The community is now planning new initiatives, including a Dark Sky Tower, to inspire stargazing and conservation efforts.

To learn more about the Isle of Rum and their efforts to become a Dark Sky Sanctuary visit https://bit.ly/4dXmATt 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿✨

12/08/2024

Good Heavens has the pleasure to host many wonderful stargazers.
This fantastic family stayed at Medlands Sanctuary on a three night package.
Thanks Joshua, Grace and Lilly!
🌟🪐🌌

26/07/2024

A few meteors shooting through the sky last night - in the lead up to the peak on the 31st July - in front of the most bedazzling clear Milky Way.✨️ Great conditions at the moment and while it's dark early and the moon is out of the evening sky... 🤩

Star gazers will have the chance to view two impressive meteor showers at the end of the month.

24/07/2024

Can you find these constellations high up in our Southern Hemisphere sky? If you're in a slightly light polluted sky, it may be easier, as only the brightest stars are visible. ⭐️

If you're under a Dark Sky Sanctuary sky ✨️ like we are here on Aotea Great Barrier Island, you're in luck, too. With 10 times as many stars visible as in a light polluted sky, this is where the starry magic happens! 🤩

On Aotea, you'll experience the stars like our ancestors have for thousands of years. Be mesmerized like they were and listen to some of the wonderful myths that we still share today. 🌠

19/07/2024

14/07/2024

Good Heavens galore! You can help by:

* using warm coloured lights (below 3000K)
* having outside lights pointing down (not skyward)
* turning lights off that are not in use
* using the minimum wattage required for its use.

It's that simple. 🤩

Celebrating our very first International Dark Sky Place, Flagstaff, Arizona, and their continued dark sky success!

Flagstaff received its designation as an International Dark Sky Community back in 2001. The city, home to Lowell Observatory and the U.S. Naval Observatory Flagstaff Station, has long been a leader in outdoor lighting policy, enacting the world’s first outdoor lighting ordinance in 1958. Flagstaff has led the way in proving that the protection of dark night skies in a growing city need not come at the expense of economic development.

To read more about Flagstaff’s success with dark sky advocacy, visit https://bit.ly/3R05Thb

08/07/2024

🤩🥰🤩🥰🤩

Many thanks to our awesome stargazers!

We love what we do and we do what we love, and it makes us feel warm inside to be so appreciated. ✨️

Clear skies!

Deborah Kilgallon Hilde Hoven

➡️ https://tinyurl.com/4vupy69m

01/07/2024

Good Heavens are looking forward to lots of planets in the evening sky in the next year and a half. 🪐

The word 'planet' means wanderer in Greek, as the Greeks realised that planets don't move with the stars. But, planets do follow a pattern as they orbit the Sun, which has been captured in these schedules.

So, if you're keen to plan your trip to Aotea Great Barrier Island to coincide with certain planets in the evening sky, you may like to save or share this post.

We've only included the naked eye planets within our solar system and have used https://m.nakedeyeplanets.com/index.htm with many thanks. 🤩

In the schedule, AN means all night. The highest point the planet reaches is around local midnight.

Dawn means an hour before sunrise in the eastern sky and dusk means an hour or so after sunset in the western sky.

For Mercury, which follows the Sun closely, the location of the word indicates that it's early, when it's to the left in the box, or late, when it's to the right.

Mor means the planet is best seen in the early morning, after local midnight but before dawn.

Eve means the planet is best seen before local midnight but after dusk.

We're very happy to make recommendations around the visibility of planets, constellations or the moon. In that case, please send us a brief message and your email address so that we can reply with lots of detail.

🤩🤩🤩




#✨️




Which planet would you like to see most?

29/06/2024

Yey! A nice write-up in Stuff today. Most of it is true, however, Good Heavens no longer provides dinner.

There are plenty of other options for a scrumptious dinner on the Barrier throughout the year, though, including Currach Irish Pub & The Innkeeper's Lodge, the Tryphena Club, Mulberry Grove Store, and the Sports Club and the Golf Club in Claris. Don't forget to dress warmly for your stargazing experience on the beach, and we'll provide blankets to keep you cozy, too.

Mānawatia a Matariki from the Good Heavens team!

https://www.stuff.co.nz/travel/350324191/why-little-nz-island-aotea-perfect-stargazing

Currach Irish Pub & The Innkeeper's Lodge Adrienne Tessa Bowler Good Heavens

Aotea/Great Barrier Island is one of only five Dark Sky Sanctuaries in the world.

28/06/2024

Starry magic ✨️ under the Milky Way 🌌 last night.

Despite a forecast for full cloud, the sky stayed clear and we had an awesome night of stargazing with two mum-daughter teams, a lovely French couple and an enthusiastic American lady. 🤩

The best 👌 job in the world!

21/06/2024

Moonbow!
🌕 🌈

12/05/2024

For those of you keen to see the Aurora tonight (again?!) - the peak (G5) is forecast to be a bit later from 21:00 to 00:00 NZST.

🌟Turn all your lights off
🌟Dress warm and consider bringing a thermos / hot drink
🌟Consider finding a high, south facing spot outside of the town or city lights (but if you’re lucky enough to live in an International Dark Sky Sanctuary…anywhere will be amazing)

11/05/2024

🌟Aurora Australis on Aotea Great Barrier Island tonight 🌟

01/05/2024

Space is wonderful. Look at these 'spiders' on Mars. Each with a diameter of between 50- 100m!! 🤩

🕷 Remember we posted about 'spiders on Mars' last week?

🧐 Well, here's a close-up of those features, seen from ESA's ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter 👇

🔗https://www.esa.int/ESA_Multimedia/Images/2024/04/Spiders_on_Mars_as_seen_by_ESA_s_ExoMars_Trace_Gas_Orbiter