ESA Astronaut Alexander Gerst: Aurora Australis over New Zealand

This timelapse video was taken by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst as he flew over New Zealand on the International Space Station at around 400 km altitude.

The nightime video shows an aurora (Aurora Australis) that occurs when Earth’s atmosphere interacts with solar radiation.

The International Space Station travels at 28 800 km/h meaning that it only takes 90 minutes to circle Earth completely. Each orbit the Station moves around 2200 km to the West in relation to 90 minutes before.

Astronauts often use normal consumer digital cameras to take pictures of Earth through Europe’s observatory module Cupola, in their brief off-duty /off-watch hours.

Setting the camera to take an image every few seconds and then playing the images back quickly create this timelapse effect.

Alexander worked as a geophysicist and volcanologist before he was chosen as an ESA astronaut in 2009.

His Blue Dot mission includes an extensive scientific programme of experiments in physical science, biology, and human physiology as well as radiation research and technology demonstrations.

All experiments chosen make use of the out-of-this-world laboratory to improve life on Earth or prepare for further human exploration of our Solar System.

Banks Peninsula in New Zealand from the ISS

Credit: ESA

A view of Banks Peninsula in New Zealand photographed from the International Space Station by ESA astronaut Alexander Gerst. 

Alexander is currently a member of the resident ISS Expedition 40 crew after arriving with the Soyuz TMA-13M spacecraft on 29 May 2014. 

Follow Alexander's Blue Dot mission on www.esa.int/bluedot and on social media via alexandergerst.esa.int

New Zealand's Southern Alps glaciers reducing rapidly

Hochstetter Icefall feeding the retreating Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps of New Zealand's Southern Island.

Credit: Dr. Huw Horgan

Historic records show Franz Josef Glacier retreated three kilometres in the last century and mathematical modeling indicates it is likely to retreat even more this century.

Other glaciers in the region, including Fox Glacier, are declining at similar rates as a result of climatic change says Dr Brian Anderson, a senior research fellow at the Antarctic Research Centre, who is supported by a Marsden Fast Start research grant.

Dr Anderson says mathematical modelling helps him, and other researchers in the team, understand how glaciers have evolved since the last ice age.

It also helps them analyse what is occurring now and predict how many glaciers in the Southern Alps will fare in the future.

Brian Anderson

"It's important to see the long term picture to really understand what's going on. That's because many of our glaciers—Fox and Franz Josef particularly—change so quickly and, apparently, so erratically.

"In the 12 years we've been carrying out this study, we've seen them rapidly retreat and then rapidly advance."

"It's not until we look back over the past century that we see an overall pattern of retreat emerging," says Dr Anderson.

"Looking ahead, we are likely to see warmer and wetter weather, which means Franz Josef and Fox glaciers will retreat a lot—our best estimate is that they will be seven or eight kilometres shorter than present by 2100."

The research findings are being collated and published as part of the Antarctic Research Centre's glacier monitoring project which also involves Dr Ruzica Dadic, Dr Huw Horgan and Associate Professor Andrew Mackintosh.

Together, the researchers are observing and measuring three glaciers—the well-known Franz Josef and Tasman glaciers and the lesser-known Brewster Glacier.

Nicolas Cullen

Other collaborators on the Brewster Glacier project are Dr Nicolas Cullen at the University of Otago and Dr Andrew Lorrey at NIWA.

The data gathered is contributing to the University of Zurich's World Glacier Monitoring Service.

Dr Anderson says: "Already we are seeing issues at Franz Josef Glacier, where walking access has not been possible for more than a year, and tourists are now being flown onto the ice."

"These are the kinds of things being predicted to happen around the world as glaciers decline and temperatures continue to warm," he says.

Earlier this year, Dr Anderson says a 70-metre chunk of ice broke off the terminal face of Tasman glacier, releasing an estimated seven million cubic metres of ice into Tasman Lake.

"Tasman is undergoing rapid decline right now, with large chunks breaking off and falling into Tasman Lake.

We are using time-lapse photography to capture these 'calving' events as they happen and gather valuable information on ice loss and glacier behaviour at the same time."

Nasa Rover Curiosity: New Zealand Kiwi Sighting On Mars

There aren't many places intrepid Kiwi travellers haven't set foot on in this world and now they're moving on to others.

A New Zealander following the travels of Nasa's Mars rover Curiosity has unearthed possible evidence of a Kiwi hiding on the red planet.

Ned Walker, a New Zealander living in Australia, said he was surprised at the find, but it was unmistakable.

"I have a huge interest in the Mars Curiosity Rover and I like to look at the raw images Nasa uploads onto its site each day from the rover's cameras.

‘‘I was amazed to find in today's raw images what can only be described a Kiwi." Walker thought the "monumental find", would be of interest to all New Zealanders.

The picture shows a shadow cast by a martian rock that looks like the very distinctive native New Zealand bird.

The rover Curiosity landed on Mars in August so has only just started beaming images from the surface back to Earth.

It's older brother, Opportunity, has been on the planet since 2004, without finding any Kiwis or other shadow figures!

Nasa's online publication of the Kiwi picture.

Solar Eclipse: Lucky Skywatchers in New Zealand

James Tse snapped this stunning photo of the partial solar eclipse on Nov. 25, 2011 from New Zealand.

CREDIT: James Tse

A few lucky skywatchers in New Zealand were treated to a partial solar eclipse that darkened the sky over parts of the southern hemisphere.

Last Friday, the moon passed between Earth and the sun, creating a partial solar eclipse for the fourth and final time this year.

The eclipse was only visible from certain locations in the southern hemisphere, including pockets of southern South Africa, across the Antarctic continent, Tasmania and parts of New Zealand.

At greatest eclipse, the moon covered 90.5 percent of the sun's diameter from the point closest to the axis of Earth's shadow, which is a location in the Bellingshausen Sea on the west side of the Antarctic Peninsula, according to NASA scientists.

So, while majority of the planet could not see this partial solar eclipse, a few fortunate skywatchers in New Zealand captured some amazing photos of the event. [See photos of the partial solar eclipse]

Christchurch Earthquake: As it happened

This panoramic image, which was posted on Reddit, appears to show the city of Christchurch moments after the earthquake struck. The origin of the photo is unknown.

Click on the image to see it at full size. 

A rail line buckled by the shifting earth is pictured in Christchurch, the day after a deadly 6.3 magnitude earthquake rocked the city

ESA ENVISAT MERIS Image: New Zealand and Cook Strait

Credits: ESA

This Envisat image captures New Zealand's North and South Islands, separated by the Cook Strait.

Named after James Cook, who in 1770 was the first European to sail through it, the Cook Strait connects the Tasman Sea to the west with the South Pacific Ocean to the east.

This image was acquired on 8 March 2010 by Envisat's Medium Resolution Imaging Spectrometer (MERIS).

Background Info

At its narrowest, it is just 23 km wide – so on a clear day it is possible to see across the strait. However, the Cook Strait is also renowned for being one of the roughest and most unpredictable stretches of water in the world.

As a result of New Zealand's latitude, the country lies in the path of the westerly wind belt known as the Roaring Forties. Since the strait is the only gap between the mountainous two islands, it acts as a huge wind tunnel, whipping up treacherous seas.

In addition, the tidal flow through Cook Strait is unusual. The tide is out of phase, which means when it is high tide on one side it is low on the other, resulting in strong currents in the middle.

New Zealand comprises many islands, though the North and South Islands are the largest landmasses. The image shows that the northerly part of the South Island is, in fact, further north that the south of the North Island. The South Island is the larger of these two landmasses and along its length gives rise to the Southern Alps, where the highest peak, Mount Cook, reaches 3754 metres. The North Island is less mountainous but more volcanic.

To read more on ESA Envisat: MODIS and New Zealand, Click here on the link

100 Icebergs heading towards New Zealand: Threat to shipping

More than 100, and possibly hundreds, of Antarctic icebergs are floating towards New Zealand in a rare event which has prompted a shipping warning, officials said on Monday.

An Australian Antarctic Division glaciologist said the ice chunks, spotted by satellite photography, had passed the Auckland Islands and were heading towards the main South Island, about 450 kilometres (280 miles) northeast.

Scientist Neal Young said more than 100 icebergs -- some measuring more than 200 metres (650 feet) across -- were seen in just one cluster, indicating there could be hundreds more.

He said they were the remains of a massive ice floe which split from the Antarctic as sea and air temperatures rise due to global warming.

"All of these have come from a larger one that was probably 30 square kilometres (11.6 square miles) in size when it left Antarctica," Young told AFP.

"It's done a long circuit around Antarctica and now the bigger parts of it are breaking up and producing smaller ones."

He said large numbers of icebergs had not floated this close to New Zealand since 2006, when a number came within 25 kilometres of the coastline -- the first such sighting since 1931.

"They're following the same tracks now up towards New Zealand. Whether they make it up to the South Island or not is difficult to tell," Young said.

New Zealand has already issued coastal navigation warnings for the area in the Southern Ocean where the icebergs have been seen.

"It's really just a general warning for shipping in that area to be on the alert for icebergs," said Maritime New Zealand spokesman Ross Henderson.

The icebergs are smaller remnants of the giant chunks seen off Australia's Macquarie Island this month, including one estimated at two kilometres (1.2 miles) and another twice the size of Beijing's "Bird's Nest" Olympic Stadium.

Young earlier told AFP he expected to see more icebergs in the area if the Earth's temperature continues to increase.

"If the current trends in global warming were to continue I would anticipate seeing more icebergs and the large ice shelves breaking up," he said.

When icebergs last neared New Zealand in 2006, a sheep was helicoptered out to be shorn on one of the floes in a publicity stunt by the country's wool industry.

Big Beautiful Boobies are back from the brink

The Mark Twain of gannets (Image: T.E. Steeves)

IT HAPPENED to me and it happened to Mark Twain, now it has happened to an enigmatic species of gannet: Reports of its death, it seems, are greatly exaggerated.

The Tasman booby (Sula dactylatra tasmani) was first described in 1988 from fossils found on Lord Howe and Norfolk Islands, off the east coast of Australia, but it was believed to be extinct in the late 18th century, after being hunted and eaten by Dutch sailors.

Having finished exterminating the Dodo, the Dutch sailors from the East India Company moved on to other islands in the region, to continue their colonial plundering of the peoples, flora, fauna and natural resources.

Now, a team of geneticists, palaeontologists and naturalists has declared the bird very much alive and well. It's strong sense of survival enabled it to retain it's meagre existence, living among its fossil ancestors on both islands, and also on New Zealand's Kermadec Islands to the east.

(Biology Letters, DOI: 10.1098/rsbl.2009.0478).

Lord of the Rings 2009

If the diminutive Frodo Baggins can carry the One Ring all the way from Bag End to the fires of Mount Doom in Mordor, surely a dedicated Lord of the Rings geek can travel to New Zealand to see the breathtaking landscapes where director Peter Jackson filmed the blockbuster trilogy based on J.R.R. Tolkien's novel.

Numerous LOTR-themed tours are available for fans looking to experience the wonders of Hobbiton, Helms Deep and the Misty Mountains.