Science

If the sky is clear over the next few nights and you have a pair of binoculars handy, you can enjoy viewing six of the solar system’s eight major planets after sunset.

I write from Chengdu in western China, a city of 20 million that commands the fertile Sichuan Plain, backed by the Himalayan foothills.

La Prele is an archaeological site in Wyoming where mammoths were hunted 13,000 years ago.

Since my relocation to New Zealand almost 12 years ago, the southern sky has become more than just a view.

Some years ago a mature student attending my lectures on early China regularly turned up late.

If you are a fan of the largest planet in the solar system, now is a great time to check it out.

Over the past few weeks, I have enjoyed some marvellous moon views using binoculars and telescopes.

When I was a student at university, every evening before dinner we thanked God for our food, in Latin.

In the rise of humans, it is often the most basic changes that are somehow overlooked.

Last weekend, I was at the University of Canterbury’s observatory atop Mt John in the Mackenzie Country.

In 2003, Australian archaeologist Mike Morwood made an incredible discovery in the cavern of Liang Bua on the Indonesian island of Flores.

From at least 3.3 million years ago, when our remote ancestors began to make sharp stone knives and scavenge meat, they made a really important evolutionary breakthrough: they joined the league of...

Exactly a century ago, miners working in a quarry at Taung in South Africa found the skull of a child entombed in limestone.

This week, I have been getting up before dawn to try to spot a bright comet in the eastern sky.

These days, much is made of the exquisite observational abilities of our ancestors.

A recent correspondence has raised an interesting issue, "The Missing Link".

Each year, at approximately 5.15pm on April 21/22 and August 21/22, the sun sets directly behind the Mount Cargill Antenna, as viewed from my home in Portobello.

On Monday at 9.26pm, the moon will reach its last quarter, causing it to rise progressively later after midnight throughout the week.

You might think that writing a weekly astronomy column is challenging due to the slow pace of change in the cosmos.