Depending on your timezone, the first artificial satellite, Sputnik was launched by the Soviets fifty years ago today, on October the 4th 1957.

Pretty exciting stuff considering this kicked off the space race, apparently the satellite passed over the USA twice before they were aware of it. Well before I was born people had been to the moon (or had they?) and space travel was not such a new and crazy idea. Interesting to think how this would have gone down in the midst of movies and novels that painted a picture of the future full of interstellar travel and life in colonies on distant planets.y years ago today, on October the 4th 1957.

There’s not much info out there at the moment but it’s still pretty exciting stuff!

It seems that the tenticles were badlyy damaged and the mantle itself is approximately 2 metres long.

On the Reuters website there is a short clip of the animal as it is briefly examined.
And on the News.com.au….

I’m booked in for them all, and I just got home from the first entitled The Eruption of Tarawera by Prof Ron Keam of the University of Auckland. It was cool!

I was particularly interested in this lecture because I have worked with a moody painting entitled The Phantom canoe: a legend of Lake Tarawera, 1888, at the Auckland Art Gallery by a gentleman called Kennett Watkins (New Zealand, b.1847, d.1933) that pictures the phantom waka that was apparently seen in the days before the Eruption of Mt Tarawera and the explosion of Lake Rotamahana. This picture I have borrowed from the gallery website strictly for research and educational purposes…

I really like this story, and it is interesting that not only Maori people saw the waka, but Pakeha people in the area did too, it was even reported in local papers.

Here is the blurb from the gallery website:

Ten days before Mount Tarawera erupted spectacularly in 1886, destroying the famed silica terraces of Rotomhana, a number of people witnessed a disturbing sight - a ghostly, fully-manned waka gliding across Lake Tarawera in the shadow of the mountain. Interpreted as an omen of impending death and disaster, the sighting was reported in local newspapers and after the eruption received much attention from artists and writers. One of the better known representations of the apparition is this grandiose composition by Kennett Watkins, a leading nineteenth century exponent of Mori history painting. Although the spectre was seen in broad daylight, Watkins presents it in a dramatic nocturnal setting illuminated by a full moon amidst billowing clouds, foreshadowing the volcanic blast to come. Conforming to European conventions for the sublime landscape, a lone, fearful spectator in the foreground witnesses the vast canoe passing under the looming peak. More specific sources in European art include representations of Vesuvius in eruption in the Bay of Naples and spectacular Alpine scenes by artists such as J. M. W. Turner. Born in India, Watkins studied art in Switzerland and France before emigrating to New Zealand in 1873. He worked as a photographer and schoolteacher in the Bay of Islands then moved to Auckland where he became principal of the Auckland Free School of Art. (from The Guide, 2001)

I almost missed the news on tv.. but fortunately a friend alerted me to the news that New Zealand fishermen fishing for the Patagonian Toothfish in the waters of the Antarctic were fortunate enough to haul in a Colossal Squid as it was after their catch… so I was able to see a few images on the breakfast news (yes, there is news on early mornings don’t you know..)

So exciting, I just love squid, particularly these mysterious giants that populate the depths of our oceans… it is very sad that we know so little about them and we don’t know whether our destructive fishing methods are causing much damage to their habit or food supplies, let along hooking them up from the depths as they go about their business…

The amazing thing about the Colossal Squid are the swivelling hooks they have on their tentacles, making them a ferocious and truly terrifying hunter - straight out of science fiction stories…

Anyhow, more photos are on the following links, I have borrowed these images one from mongabay.com

www.ctv.ca

www.seattletimes.nwsource.com

You can read more about this awesome creature on the wikipedia

The Green Party are hosting a fund raising preview of Who Killed the Electric Car? at the Academy on Monday at 7:50pm. You are invited to join them for this preview.
Tickets are only available from the Green Party. See below.
The Auckland Green Party is proud to host the environmental documentary film of 2007, directed by Chris Paine. “It was among the fastest, most efficient production cars ever built. It ran on electricity, produced no emissions and catapulted American technology to the forefront of the automotive industry. The lucky few who drove it never wanted to give it up. So why did General Motors crush its fleet of EV1 electric vehicles in the Arizona desert? WHO KILLED THE ELECTRIC CAR? Chronicles the life and mysterious death of the GM EV1, examining its cultural and economic ripple effects and how they reverberated through the halls of government and big business.”

This screening will take place on Monday the 19th of February at 7.50pm at Academy Cinemas, Lorne Street. Tickets cost $15 and are only available from the Auckland Green Party Office, phone (09)303-4143 or email auckland@greens.org.nz.

View the trailer here.

I was so gutted when a friend asked me if I had seen the comet last Thursday night - I had heard something about a comet coming, but did not know the when, where or how long…

Apparently Comet McNaught was discovered by an Australian in August of last year.

I determined to see it one of the following nights, the bad news was that Auckland (surprise surprise) would be cloudy for the next week or so! Took the chance when I went for a walk, and sat atop Mt Eden in the hopes it would clear in time and it did!

The comet was just beautiful, and worth freezing in the wind. Apparently although comets may not be so predictable, you should be able to see it in the south-west night sky for another week.

Below are a few news links and a link for some photographs taken over the past week or so.

From Scoop….

Photos from Spaceweather….

From the NZ Herald….

Charts and things from the Carter Observatory….

It took a while, but I’ve just seen the Al Gore film, An Inconvenient Truth.

I’ve been concerned about the environment for so long - and at times it’s just so just so big a problem that one person seems so insignificant, but it just comes down to individuals making small changes every day. As far as the issue of global warming goes, there is nothing really new in this film, but Gore does a good job of breaking down the science behind understanding global warming or ‘climate change’. Anyone could walk away from this film an understand the crisis the environment is in.

It had more of a global perspective than I thought it might - after reading an article by Gore in the green issue of Vanity Fair earlier this year (more…) that seemed to assume that if you were reading the article, you were an American and that there was only one ‘administration’.

As you would expect, there were saddening pictures of disappearing glaciers, tree felling and the terrible effects of extreme weather patterns. Even a simulation of the effect of rising sea levels on many low lying cities, and not just those in America. Thankfully the film concludes with positive actions that may make a difference.

So go see the film, and visit the website:

climatecrisis.net