With the absence of any form of national observatory in the true sense of the word, the history of astronomy in New Zealand is largely that of amateur endeavour. Many personalities have appeared on the scene; some have been prominent in a colourful manner while others have given long and serious devotion to an absorbing hobby. Among the general public there has always been an atmosphere of interest in astronomy, and at present it is probably as high as anywhere else in the world. Lack of national support, however, has meant that New Zealand has not been able to make any major contributions to the science of astronomy, which on present international standards is completely undeveloped.
Early maritime explorers appear to have been versed to an astonishing degree in astronomical knowledge as applied to the art of navigation. They could well be considered as our first astronomers. Judging from the small piece of coastline charted by Abel Tasman in 1642–43, the latitudes of recognisable features are surprisingly accurate, considering the equipment and conditions under which he worked. So accurate was the work of Captain James Cook on his expeditions in 1769 and 1772 that many of his charts are still the basis for some of our modern ones.
The first astronomical observatories were established by Cook's expeditions at Motuara Island in Queen Charlotte Sound, and at Astronomer Point, Pickersgill Harbour, in Dusky Sound. At these places, every known method then in use for determining latitude and longitude was pressed into service. Even that of timing the phenomena of Jupiter's satellites was used. For many years, the location of the Dusky Sound observatory provided the prime meridian and origin of surveys for New Zealand.
In a mountainous, heavily forested virgin country requiring urgent detailed surveys for development, astronomical observations for positions and general mapping were essential. Like the marine hydrographer, the land surveyor became an adept at astronomical practice. The early records of the Lands and Survey Department clearly show that these men were not only skilful in applying astronomical knowledge for the immediate practical purpose in hand, but were also captivated by the general interest of the subject. Observations are recorded of transits of Venus and an eclipse of the sun. Contributions were made to the theory and practice of the adjustment of observations, methods of observation, astronomical refraction, and other subjects. These were our first real astronomers. In addition to the many contributions by the officers of the Lands and Survey Department, every Surveyor-General has either made learned studies or has influenced work along these directions.
This phase of work in the survey of New Zealand has now been completed, and accurate astronomical observations for position are made only occasionally by the Hydrographic Department of the Royal New Zealand Navy on Pacific islands.
Daily life in the early days of the colony did not require high accuracy of timekeeping, and it appears that each district kept its own approximate local mean solar time. Development of coastal shipping, trans-Tasman steam services, railways, and the electric telegraph soon showed the necessity of some kind of uniform time system for the country, if confusion was to be avoided. On the recommendations of Sir James Hector, the House of Representatives resolved that the mean time for the colony should be 11½ hours in advance of Greenwich mean time as from 2 November 1868. It is interesting to note that not long afterwards discussions arose as to whether or not it would be better to make this time difference exactly 12 hours. After the vicissitudes of “summer time” experiments, the standard time at present is in fact 12 hours ahead of Greenwich, as defined by the Standard Time Act of 1945.
Time and longitude are two completely interwoven quantities both for the navigator and for the surveyor; and it was soon appreciated that not only was it necessary to have a uniform time system for the young colony but also that the longitude must be known as accurately as possible. While fixing the location of the country accurately on charts, longitude relates its time to that of the prime meridian of Greenwich. It was, therefore, natural that much effort was expended in attempting to determine the longitude of Wellington, which from 1870 was the location of a time observatory.
Before the advent of radio or submarine cables, longitudes were determined whenever possible by the transport of chronometers between a known and an unknown position. Thus the Sydney-Wellington longitude difference became the subject of intensive study. The first attempt of this kind was made by the survey ships HMS Acheron (see Ships, Famous), and HMS Pandora from 1848 to 1854. There follows a long history of various repeated attempts to check and improve the values obtained, mostly by Lands and Survey Department officers. The devotion and interest of these men are an inspiration to anyone interested in this type of work. Completion of the trans-Pacific cable in 1902 enabled Dr Otto Klotz of Canada to bring this period to a close. Since then, three other determinations have been made, in 1926, 1931, and 1957, using radio time signals. In these years New Zealand participated in an international campaign for longitude determinations covering the entire world.
Despite the accepted necessity for a time service, particularly in a period when radio either did not exist or was in a very new state, there was no full professional time-service observatory until 1912, when the late C. E. Adams was appointed Government Astronomer. Previously the Ven. Archdeacon Stock, followed by Thomas King, a business accountant, made transit observations virtually in their spare time. With the retirement of Adams in 1936, officers in charge of the time observatory have not been given the title of Government or Dominion Astronomer.
By 1914 radio time signals, originating from the world's large observatories, began to make their appearance, and in the course of time it seemed unnecessary to make actual astronomical observations for the national time service. While from a severely practical point of view this might still be the case, scientific advances of the present day have indicated the necessity of resuming precision star observations for, among other things, the study of the finer motions of the earth. Stimulated by the International Geophysical Year (1957–58), the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research installed the most up-to-date instrument available, a Danjon astrolabe, for this purpose. This instrument, combined with a quartz-clock, means that the timeservice observatory is now well prepared to commence valuable observations of the highest international standard in this field.
Fields of astronomy other than those already considered were left entirely to the amateur astronomer prior to 1939, when the Carter Observatory Board was established by Act of Parliament. The principal exception was the valuable contribution made to the calculation of cometary orbits and ephemerides by C. E. Adams. Methods developed by him are now standard practice and have even found their way quietly into artificial satellite orbit theory. In general, he was well ahead of his time in the then whole field of astronomical calculation, and undoubtedly strongly influenced L. J. Comrie, a New Zealander later destined to be a superintendent of H.M. Nautical Almanac Office, London.
In the realm of theory there has never been any personality in the country to equal A. C. Gifford (1861–1948). Intrigued by an idea of Professor A. W. Bickerton that novae were produced by the grazing impact of two stars, he spent the greater part of his life developing such a theory. Present-day knowledge finds this theory inadequate, but his work on the impact of meteors on the lunar surface as the cause of lunar craters has had a powerful influence right up to the present time. His intense enthusiasm as a science teacher and amateur astronomer inspired all those who came directly or indirectly under his influence.
There have been so many keen amateur observers that to select the most outstanding is by no means easy. In terms of highly significant contributions to the science, John Grigg (1838–1920), J. T. Ward (1861–1927), R. A. McIntosh (1904– ), and Albert F. Jones (1920– ) are well worthy of consideration. Grigg completed a small but extremely well designed observatory at the rear of his music warehouse at Thames in 1884. Among his activities he was an ardent observer of comets and discovered several. At a time when communications were difficult he also performed the remarkable feat of computing orbits and ephemerides. Ward is mostly remembered for the enormous number of telescopes and optical components constructed by him, as well as for the establishment of the Wanganui Observatory housing a fine 9½ in. refractor. In addition, however, he is the only person in New Zealand who carried out with considerable success a survey for the discovery of southern double stars. McIntosh in Auckland pioneered the study of visual meteors in the southern hemisphere, and provided sound initial knowledge on radiants. One of his major works was the study of the relationship between the Eta Aquarid meteors and Halley's Comet. Jones in Timaru, who has been active for the last 20 years, is probably the most prolific visual observer of long period variable stars that the world has ever known. In addition, he has become the most famous visual observer of the physical characteristics of comets in the southern hemisphere.
Although individuals become prominent in their own right, the general interest in astronomy throughout the community has resulted in the formation of many astronomical societies. Local branches of the Royal Society at Wellington, Nelson, and Dunedin have their astronomical sections. Individual societies have been formed at Auckland, Hamilton, New Plymouth, Wanganui, Hawera, Palmerston North, and Christchurch. In most cases observatories have been built to which the public are invited. Indeed, on the whole, the public has been given exceedingly good attention by the enthusiastic members of these societies. There are three small planetaria at Auckland, Napier, and Christchurch.
The New Zealand Astronomical Society was formed in 1920 with C. E. Adams as president, to act as a national organisation which aimed at a development a little above that of many of the local societies. In 1946 this became the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand, and its main functions have been the publication of the journal Southern Stars, and the organisation of observing groups for specialised studies where this has been found possible. The variable star section under F. M. Bateson has attained international recognition. The headquarters of the society are at present at the Carter Observatory Wellington.
No account of New Zealand astronomy would be complete without mention of expeditions organised for solar eclipse observations. Adams represented New Zealand on the Lick Observatory expedition to Australia in 1922, and he himself led an expedition to Niuafaou in 1930. C. B. Michie of Kaitaia organised an expedition to Canton Island in 1937, and I. L. Thomsen led a small expedition to Atafu, in the Tokelau Islands, in 1957. Successful corona photographs were obtained on all occasions. In addition, the following annular eclipses were observed from New Zealand itself in 1925 (Adams) and in 1936 (Michie and Thomsen). Complete accounts of observations of the total eclipse of the sun seen from New Zealand on 9 September 1885 are to be found in the reports of the Lands and Survey Department.
To those interested in the high development of astronomy in New Zealand, there have been two tragic losses. In 1920 a proposal was made by Yale University Observatory to establish a large photographic telescope in Central Otago for the purpose of making photographic zone catalogues of the heavens. Apparently New Zealand was not able to rise adequately to the situation with the necessary aid, and the instrument went instead to South Africa. A few years earlier it had been anticipated that Thomas Cawthron would leave a bequest for the establishment of a solar observatory in Nelson. It appears that the necessary papers had not been signed before Cawthron's death, and instead the present Cawthron Institute came into being.
In 1896 Charles Rooking Carter, a pioneer of some prominence in the Wellington and Wairarapa districts, died, bequeathing a sum of about £2,000 for the establishment of an astronomical observatory in or near the city of Wellington, for the public use and benefit. The Carter Observatory Act, 1938, established a board for the purpose of using this money with the accrued interest to put into effect Carter's wishes. With annual grants from the New Zealand Government and the Wellington City Council, the Carter Observatory thus came into being in 1939, with Murray Geddes as its first director.
Geddes had had high prominence as an amateur astronomer in the fields of sunspots, variable stars, the aurora, meteors, and in the discovery of a comet. Unfortunately he died in 1944 while on active service with the Royal Navy, and was succeeded by I. L. Thomsen. Previous to the commencement of the Carter Observatory, Thomsen had worked in the time-service observatory, then known as the Dominion Observatory.
The work of the Carter Observatory is divided into educational and research activities. Upon the educational side are public lectures and telescope demonstrations, as well as the providing of general information to amateurs and the public as required.
With limited apparatus and staff, the observatory has never been able to develop work comparable to that of large overseas observatories. But work of international value has been done on sunspots, chromospheric flares, eclipses, occultations, and comets. Work is developing on double star measurements and stellar photography. Following on the original work commenced by Geddes, the observatory completed from 1930 to 1958 the first and longest catalogue of visual observations of the aurora australis ever made . This project was completed by valuable aid, in its later stage, from the Air Force Cambridge Research Centre, United States of America.
Although the Carter Observatory is by its origins a local one, and the first professional institution of its kind in the country, it nevertheless has on some occasions to assume a national aspect in the provision of authoritative or accurate information. Astronomical instruction in its fullest aspect is at present not a function of universities in New Zealand, although there has been a growing interest in the physics and mathematical departments. In particular mention must be made of radar observations of meteors undertaken by the physics department of the Canterbury University. Though aimed principally at studies of the ionosphere, these observations are valuable by-products of the subject of meteoric astronomy in the southern hemisphere.
Present-day astronomy is clamouring for more large observatories in the southern hemisphere. While in the past there has always been an imbalance between the two hemispheres, today the situation is scientifically desperate. Large instruments capable of accurately measuring the brightnesses of faint stars, securing spectrograms, and making photographic surveys are now required. By virtue of its situation both in latitude and in longitude, New Zealand can play an important part in astronomical research if a site with suitable atmospheric conditions can be found. It so happens that an American institution is now making such a search. If the quest is successful, a new age will open for New Zealand astronomy.
At the time of writing (1964) an agreement has been reached between the University of Pennsylvania, U.S.A., and the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, for the establishment of an observatory on Mount John at Tekapo, South Island, to be known as the Mount John University Observatory. This site was chosen after intensive tests carried out by F. M. Bateson who has been appointed Astronomer in Charge. By now some instruments are ready for operation and very soon there will be an 18-in.-long focus refractor and a 39-in. reflector established. Such an observatory will be used by astronomers of international standing, and this impact on the science of astronomy in New Zealand may well be expected to be the greatest in its history.
by Ivan Leslie Thomsen, F.R.A.S.(LOND.), Director, Carter Observatory, Wellington.