UNDER THE SOUTHERN STARS
THE HEART OF NEW ZEALAND’S DARK SKY RESERVE SHOWS OFF THE WONDER OF THE UNIVERSE
DARK SKIES AT NIGHT ARE A VIEWERS’ DELIGHT, FINDS NAOMI ARNOLD ON AN ASTROTOUR OF NEW ZEALAND
HOURS before dawn, on the side of a lonely road near Tekapo in New Zealand’s dark sky country, I zipped up my down jacket, pulled on my beanie and got out of my car to take one last look at the stars – a massive, sparkling, silvery band smeared across the jet black sky.
I was driving to Christchurch after visiting the Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve – one of the world’s greatest stargazing destinations. The skies here are so pure that they have been designated a gold-standard Dark Sky Reserve by the International Dark Sky Association (IDSA) to protect them from excess light pollution, and they shine with a ferocity not seen in many other places. It’s not uncommon for travellers to shed a tear when faced with a truly prehistoric night sky for the first time; the beauty and wonder of the universe can be profoundly moving and unsettling.
I gazed upwards until my neck ached and my eyes blurred. I traced the kite-shaped Southern Cross, or Crux, a distinctive five-star constellation diving towards the south, while bright Canopus shone directly overhead – the same celestial beacon used by ancient Polynesian and Māori explorers. The Large and Small Magellanic Clouds, two dwarf galaxies visible only here in the southern hemisphere, glowed like ghostly patches over my shoulder as they slowly orbited the beautiful core of the Milky Way. It was so dark my eyes could pick out the depths of gas and dust that shroud the centre of our home galaxy.
Even the snow-coated mountain peaks were glowing in the starlight. The entire effect was breathtaking. I stamped my feet on the grassy verge fighting the October cold, wanting to look just a little longer; perhaps catch the sudden flash of one more meteor.
In researching my book Southern Nights, the story of New Zealand astronomy, I’d become a wonderstruck stargazer. Star-chasing took me to the far north of New Zealand: the remote Great Barrier Island, one of the world’s few remote IDSA Dark Sky Sanctuaries, where the unpolluted skies have kickstarted a new island economy in astrotourism.
I’d been to Dunedin and the Otago Peninsula in the far south, where I watched a moon as orange and full as a mandarin rise over the horizon as I joined Horizon Tours to learn about Māori astronomical traditions; from hearing the creation story of Atutahi (Canopus) – first-born of Ranginui the sky father, whose presence signalled winter was coming – to learning how stars were used to farm and harvest seafood.
In Wellington I’d hopped on board a Pacificvoyaging waka – the double-hulled canoes used by ancient explorers – to learn how they mastered the art of celestial navigation; and I’d looked through
EVEN JUST SIMPLY STANDING ON A DESERTED ROAD AND BEHOLDING THE SPECTACLE LEFT ME AWESTRUCK
powerful telescopes on the Dark Sky Project’s tour of the University of Canterbury’s Mount John Observatory in Tekapo.
But still, even just simply standing on a deserted road and beholding the spectacle left me awestruck. Eventually, the biting cold forced me back into my car – but I couldn’t help stopping a few more times that night.
As I drove, I went over the next steps of my astrotourism exploration of New Zealand: visiting Rakiura/Stewart Island, an island-based Dark Sky Sanctuary at the southern tip of the country, where I plan to track down the elusive aurora australis – the southern lights, shy southern cousins of the aurora borealis; combining stars with slopes on a night ski at Coronet Peak in Queenstown; and witnessing a total solar eclipse – the next one in New Zealand will occur in Dunedin on 22 July, 2028.
I arrived in Christchurch just as dawn was breaking. The drive from Aoraki Mackenzie International Dark Sky Reserve can be done in under four hours, but there’s no way of knowing how long you’ll need to stop and stare. As the rest of the city stirred for the day, I went to bed with a twinkle in my eye, replaying the greatest nightly show on Earth.