News & Articles

The Earth is the jewel of the Solar System, the only world orbiting the sun that is teeming with life. This comes as no surprise when you examine the nature of life. All life on Earth, from microbes to human beings, is based on the carbon atom. It is difficult to...

Matariki, which means ‘Little Eyes’, is a cluster of stars also known as the Pleiades and the Seven Sisters. On a clear dark night you can see, with good eyesight, about seven stars. However, these are just the brighter members of a cluster of more than 1,000 stars....

The most brilliant region of the Milky Way comes directly overhead on a winter’s evening. Looking up you will notice that there is a dark, almost black rift running along the centre of the brightest region. Today we know that this dark rift is formed by vast clouds of...

The Pleiades, also known as The Seven Sisters, is the brightest and most celebrated cluster of stars in the sky. The cluster contains more than 400 stars but only six are easily seen with the unaided eye. The individual cluster stars are not particularly bright, but...

For most of human history there was no such thing as the ‘written word’. Knowledge was passed from generation to generation in story form… because we can all remember a good story. Many of these stories are still around today. Trouble is that the vast majority of...

Early evening, looking to the south, you will see two glowing clouds of light that look like detached portions of the Milky Way. These are the Clouds of Magellan, two external galaxies that are satellites of the Milky Way. The Large Cloud is 169,000 light-years away...

October is shaping up to be an exciting month here at Stonehenge Aotearoa. With school holidays, spring skies, and international celebrations of space and science, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Here’s what’s happening: World Space Week - October 4-10 Join...

In Greek mythology Andromeda was the princess that was chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea monster Cetus. Andromeda is also the name of an ancient constellation that contains the most distant object that can be seen with the unaided eye. Our Sun is a star in...

We live on a planet that we call Earth which, along with a number of other worlds, orbits a star which we call the Sun. In theory a planetary system is a natural bi-product of star formation. Thus, every star should be accompanied by a retinue of planets. However,...

Here comes the spring equinox Spring Equinox at the Henge - 23 September at 4:30 PM Twice a year, the sun rises and sets directly in the east and west, marking the equinox. At Stonehenge Aotearoa, these events are brought to life through our unique Southern Hemisphere...