Courses
Courses are taught at the Waiheke Adult Learning Centre and at the Astro Lounge in Oneroa.
How To Look At The Sky
Waiheke Island is blessed with a beautiful night sky full of celestial wonders, stars, star clusters, planets, our home Galaxy (and other galaxies), nebulas and more! It’s a wonderful opportunity to embrace this advantage and practice stargazing, learn more about our celestial neighborhood, create wonderful night images, and enjoy our beautiful Waiheke nightlife.
Goals of this course are:
- Learn (and practice) the basics of amateur astronomy.
- Get familiar and comfortable with using telescopes and other equipment to enhance the quality of stargazing
You will learn:
- How to find fascinating stellar objects and use a telescope, (even if objects are faint, we’ll use coordinates or other techniques to find intriguing stellar objects)
- About telescopes and other instruments and how to use them.
- Basics of night/astro – photography
- Principles of image processing
Format of the course:
Theory with practice
→ The first part of each lesson is theory,
→ The second part of the lesson is either a practical exercise or hands-on experience outdoors
The team of “NightShift – Stargazing Waiheke” will provide an 8” reflector telescope for practical sessions.
For better practical experience we encourage you to bring your device (either tablet or laptop).
If you have your own telescope or binoculars, feel free to bring them for our outdoor practical sessions to practice and enhance your skills with it.
Astrophotography