Society seeks content for history book
Whether it’s watching a comet cross the sky or seeing the rings of saturn for the first time at the observatory, the New Plymouth Astronomical Society wants to hear the story.
In 2019 the society will celebrate its 100th anniversary and committee member Nick Gladstone wants to put together a history book.
’’Where I have a problem is more recent history where there’s at least one minute book that we no longer possess and also since minutes have been disseminated electronically they’re not necessarily easy or possible to track down.
‘‘There’s also the problem with minutes in that often they’re quite opaque,’’ he said. ‘‘History based entirely on these sort of records is going to be a bit dry.’’
The first 50 years of the society has already been captured in a little booklet.
‘‘What I was going to try and do was to weave into the story of the society a little bit about space as it has been seen over 100 years because our conception of the universe in 1919 was different to what it is now.
‘‘Our knowledge has gone on a journey during the lifetime of the society.‘‘
People wishing to share their
‘‘What I was going to try and do was to weave into the story of the society a little bit about space as it has been seen over 100 years.’’
Nick Gladstone
experiences and stories, records, reports, photographs, newspapers clippings and memorabilia associated with the society are invited to a meeting held on September 17 from 7.30pm at the New Plymouth Observatory.
‘‘The main purpose of the meeting is not so much to acquire all this stuff just in a two hour meeting over nibbles and a cuppa. It’s more to make contact so that I can then go away having met people and put faces to names.’’
After that he’ll follow up with those people with an aim to have the work completed in the summer of 2019. People can also contact Nick Gladstone at nickandviv@gmail.com or ring 021 751 524.
September is nebula and bright planet month at the New Plymouth Observatory on Marsland Hill. Viewing starts 7.30pm each Tuesday. Entry costs $5 adult, $3 student and $10 per family.