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For those interested in Astronomy on the Radio:

Our Changing World, Tonight 9.00 pm, Radio New Zealand National

Alison Ballance and Veronika Meduna presenting

In the first episode in a series celebrating the International Year of Astronomy, Mt John Observatory’s Alan Gilmore, Grant Christie and other astronomers review the history of optical astronomy in New Zealand .

NIWA oceanographers Philip Boyd and Cliff Law talk about iron fertilisation experiments in the world’s oceans.
Ornithologists Colin Miskelly and Graham Taylor discuss the latest New Zealand threatened bird classification.
Scott Wing, the curator of palaeobiology at the Smithsonian explains how flora and fauna changed during the Palaeogene 50 million years ago when the world was experiencing a much warmer climate.
Shorter science, health and environment features also air during Afternoons with Jim Mora at 3.45 p.m. , Monday to Thursday. The programme is repeated at 1.10 a.m. on Sunday mornings.


(and for those who didn't listen in time, they post to the net :)
You can download a podcast or listen to streaming audio of programmes you’ve missed in the complete programme archive at: http://radionz.co.nz/ourchangingworld

Next week is apparently white dwarves (I'll lay bets Denis Sullivan) and stellar evolution (could be Karen or Peter or Denis).

(NB description culled from email notification I got.)

The random DVD assortment of movies for the week was:

Hellboy - usual special effects etc.

The Brothers Grimm - the usual special effects combined with Terry Gilliam insanity. "Twelve Monkeys" worked better. Though the cinematography was good.

River Queen. The best of the lot. NZ film set in the Maori Wars done by Vincent Ward. Gorgeously filmed. Very good sets and costume* - play spot the Goldie painting outfit you recognised, great scenery. Bit let down by the script, so you ended up not really caring about the main people.

*Appart from the female lead who was dressed from here, there and everywhere. The one shot where she looked right, was standing in a hut in full white (Simplicity 69??) chemise, corset and pants of the right era (US Civil war being the same decade as the Maori Wars at least). Bingo, then she goes and pulls on something that appears to be 1880s(?) natural form in one piece. Slim and white drapy and WRONG looking. The only possible excuse seems to be a directorial decision for that look, because the proper crinoline and petticoats would have obscured her face in the "intimate interlude" up against the tree several shots later. Why there weren't bright green moss stains down her back as opposed to just the dramatically dischevaled hair...

But overall worth seeing, if only for the fact that they were very good at getting the other historical details right. Not often that Z is complementing them on the munitions and battle tactics shown.

Other amusements/procrastinatory devices:
For those who remember the digitanks, the next step up - Jousting knights.
Want to classify galaxies in your spare time? - Sloan Digital Sky Survey Needs YOU!. Galaxy Zoo definitely looks to be an interesting project. How good are your fuzzy blob identification skills?
Edit: 10 min later and I am in and identifying. The tutorial is straight forward and the test to see if you can identify to a reasonable standard was easy to follow, though I was miffed that you just got a pass/fail, as opposed to how many you got. Will be fun to see what sort of results they get once the statistics section is up and running. Will be interesting to see whether or not people agree on particular classifications.

And it is nice to look at stars again, even if it is just is the large quantity blobs. And some of the spiral galaxies are very cool.

But give Mum and Dad turn up tomorrow, I should possibly get back to tidying...

Or, a post not about tents, Festival or anything medieval.

Your manuscript entitled "Abundances in intermediate-mass AGB stars undergoing third dredge-up and hot-bottom burning", *snip*, has now been accepted for publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society Main Journal.
*snip*
Referee's report:
As pointed out by the authors, the results here "come from exploratory observations and calculations", and this is a pioneering effort in determining abundances in very intractable stars.
*snip*

Submitted 23 March, accepted 12 April, which is a far faster turn around than the last paper (which took about a year of reubmission and changes). Mind you, the other authors are slightly bigger names this time round...

Publication. Yaaaaaayyyyy!!!!!

So, that is what I spent the past 3 years working on...

Heavens Above for checking out visable comets, satelites etc.
vonstassburg, if it is Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 you were wondering about (don't know if that is the one breaking up), unfortunately it appears to be northern hemisphere and fairly faint (currently 8th magnitude with 6th magnitude being the nominal naked eyeball cut off).
edit: More info and pretty pictures at the Bad Astronomy Blog.

Additional current comet info:
Gary W. Kronk's cometography.com: Current Comets
Weekly Information about Bright Comets

WRT Southern Hemisphere stuff, check Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand. Some of their stuff is a little out of date though. Though the RASNZ conference for 2006 (in New Plymouth) has David Levy as guest speaker (remember Shoemaker-Levy 9?). Also the new director of the American Association of Variable Star Observers (AAVSO). 30th June - 2 July. I wont be making it over but others may be interested.

For later reference:
Heavens-Above Main page (lat/long for Canberra) - try http://www.heavens-above.com/ for the generic site, where you can search for your specific location.
Yay to comets and satellites, though unfortunately the new bright one Astronomy Picture of the Day: Comet Pojmanski is only currently at mag 6.4, is an early morning object, and may no longer be observable from southern latitudes. And it was apparently briefly naked eye.

NB Googling _Heavens above sky watch_ found it fast. www.heavensabove.org wasn't, and was apparently "Britain's favourite on-line Sex Shop". Couldn't be arsed checking any further.

Still headachey, though better after shoulder massage. This probably means I will be good and head off to bed, rather than hunching over tablet weaving or a computer. Besides, have a good book.