Friday 2nd July - 9am to 3pm - Schools Day with Otago Museum Science Outreach team - at Alexandra Community Centre

The Science Outreach team from Otago Museum are bringing their stardome on Friday 2nd July to the theatre in the Community Centre and running demonstrations and activities for local schools.

Mandy Greer at REAP is the coordinator of this.

Friday 2nd July - 5.30pm to 6.30pm - Winterstellar Exhibition Opening & Astrophotography Competition Prizegiving - at Central Stories Museum & Art Gallery

This will include a presentation about "Solar Tsunami" by the Otago Museum Science Outreach team.

There will also be the prizegiving for the inaugural Winterstellar Astrophotography Competition.

Saturday 3rd July - 6am to 8am - Matariki Celebration - at Central Stories/Pioneer Park, Alexandra - (in Meeting Room by Cinema entrance)

This is a collaboration between manawhenua and Otago Museum Science Outreach team. This will include the following:

"On the Saturday, we would like to provide some activities around Matariki. This would be at 6am, as that precedes astronomical twilight, and would be based at Central Stories.

Content:

• Telescopes – if it’s clear, we can look at Puaka and Matariki
• VR headsets – a chance to see what the sky looks like from a waka (an animated drawing of one) in the middle of the ocean.
• Planispheres – a large one to show how the sky looks different at different times of year, plus smaller ones that people can cut out and take home with them.
• Informational panels and korero – meet the nine stars of Matariki and what each represents.
• Poi and tī rākau – sharing of knowledge."