Search For Sites For Observations In N.Z.

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29367, 21 November 1960, Page 16

Search For Sites For Observations In N.Z.

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, Nov, 20. New Zealand may, in a few years, have one or more large astronomical observatories, Mr F. M. Bateson, of Tauranga, a research associate of the University of Pennsylvania, told the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand at the week-end. > Mr Bateson, who is director of the variable star section of the society and an internationallyknown astronomer, has been appointed by the university to investigate New Zealand sites for a Southern Hemisphere research observatory. “But if we do find the right conditions here, there will be no difficulty in establishing an observatory,” he told the annual meeting of the society. “It will just be a matter of how many are established. The investigation will be sponsored by the United States National Science Foundation, through the University of Pennsylvania. The instruments to be used will come from the United States Navy observatory in Washington. “The areas selected for investigation are the Bay of Plenty, particularly round Whakatane and Opotiki. Poverty Bay. north of Gisborne. Hawke’s Bay. Marlborough. Nelson. South Canterbury. and North and Central Otago." Mr. Bateson said that 12 or 15 sites should be selected for testing by mid-April. 1961. and then special tests, using telescopes and other instruments, would be

earned out at each to narrow the selection down to three or four sites. It would take about two years to go back over all the sites to be tested, and then it would be necessary to determine which was the most suitable for an observatory, if conditions were found measuring up to what was looked for. “If we find suitable sites some instruments are available now, and if the conditions are right here more will come,” he said. “I hope, indeed, that New Zealand will have several districts in which the conditions necessary occur—but that I won’t be able to tell you for several years.”