Southland Astronomical Society

Southland Astronomical Society The Southland Astronomical Society is a small active group of astronomers based in Invercargill We are based in Invercargill, New Zealand's southernmost city.

The Southland Astronomical Society is the southernmost Astronomical Society in the world. We welcome any enquiries about membership to the society. As a member, you are welcome to attend our monthly meetings held at 7:30pm on the first Thursday of every month except for January. From February 2023 our meetings are held at Fernworth Primary School, 288 Pomona St, Invercargill. We discuss the 'goin

gs on' in our night sky, local and worldwide. We often have slideshows and presentations about a very wide range of astronomy topics. Our members are very friendly and you will always receive a warm welcome. The Society was kindly donated an Observatory in late July 2021 we are currently working to get it operational for the 2022 viewing season. We currently use our portable 8" celestron telescope on our public viewing nights, which are every Saturdsy night 7:30pm - 9:30pm March till mid October. Private booking's can be made, please email Philip Burt for inquires. We strive to cater for everyone from small children to adults. We will share changes made in the Club rooms as we complete them and advise of when we will be opening and of times etc. The purpose of this page is for us to update you about sky events and be able to interact with all of you keen sky observors more often and efficently. Please don't hesitate to contact us via our message system or email for membership enquiries or any other questions you might have. We look forward to bringing you information and having lively discussions. Note: Our goal is to keep the page family friendly, but if you do happen to see something of concern please report it to one of our page administrators. Please be patient with us as we get this page up and running. Thank you from the Southland Astronomical Society. Page Administrators
Elizabeth King - President -
Joseph Roberts - Vice-President
Phillip Burt - Secretary & Booking Manger
[email protected]

Alan Hale died Saturday 6th of June age 78Alan Hale was an American astronomer and comet-hunter. He is best known for co...
10/06/2026

Alan Hale died Saturday 6th of June age 78

Alan Hale was an American astronomer and comet-hunter. He is best known for co-discovering the comet Hale-Bopp in 1995, one of the brightest and most widely observed comets of the 20th century. Hale was a prominent figure in the field of astronomy, dedicating his life to searching for and studying comets and asteroids.

30/04/2026

Tomorrow night's viewing nigh, 2nd of May, will run a little different this time, this night will be run without telescopes unfortunately, there will still be displays on inside.

New planetarium open in Invercargill?
26/04/2026

New planetarium open in Invercargill?

17/04/2026

Our next viewing night will be the 2nd of May, 7.30pm till atleast 9.30pm.

If you have clear skies looking south, Aurora is being reported in Southland. Good luck and happy hunting 21/3/26 @ 9.10...
21/03/2026

If you have clear skies looking south, Aurora is being reported in Southland. Good luck and happy hunting 21/3/26 @ 9.10pm

02/03/2026

Please note that due to unforseen circumstances we have to regrettably cancel tomorrow night's, Tuesday 3rd of March public viewing of the lunar eclipse, but if you have clear skies pop out and have a look.

Two satellite proposals have been submitted to the US Federal Communications Commission, one to put large mirrors in spa...
23/02/2026

Two satellite proposals have been submitted to the US Federal Communications Commission, one to put large mirrors in space for 'sunlight on demand' and the other to place a million satellites in low earth orbit.

Either, if implemented, will threaten our view of the night sky where we will no longer be able to see the stars. It will be a catastrophe for astronomical research.

Please take the time to put in a submission to stop this from happening. Instructions on how to do this can be found in these articles

Two satellite proposals threaten the night sky — the window to act is now
https://darksky.org/news/two-satellite-proposals-threaten-the-night-sky-the-window-to-act-is-now/

Space Mirrors and Satellites - Submission: by Dr Samantha Lawler, the RASNZ Beatrice Hill Tinsley Lecture 2026 speaker.
https://www.rasnz.org.nz/newsarticle/162646?newsfeedId=1919064

NZ IAU Astronomy Outreach IAU Office for Astronomy Outreach RASNZ

22/02/2026

It has been brought to our attention that there are other sites advertising our events with incorrect times, please be aware that the society DO NOT advertise on other platforms other then on our page or Great South with our permission

Send a message to learn more

Address

Links Road
Invercargill
9879

Opening Hours

7:30pm - 9:30pm

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