Book Review: Southern Nights: The Story of New Zealand's Night Sky from the Southern Lights to the Milky Way by Naomi Arnold.

Southern Nights is written by an award-winning journalist and natural history writer, who excels in writing about human connections with the natural world.

Naomi Arnold takes the reader on a journey through time, weaving a fascinating story as she goes. The book is divided into four parts: Understanding the universe; The age of discovery; Early New Zealand Astronomy; The view from here. 

She initially gives us a very brief grounding in astronomy and the universe, with an extensive chapter on Stars Down Under to firmly anchor the reader in New Zealand.  I learnt that we in New Zealand have a unique view of the southern Milky Way never seen by northern hemisphere observers. Many features of our night sky can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, such as the Magellanic Clouds (two dwarf galaxies orbiting the Milky Way), and of course the Southern Cross which can be observed all year round in New Zealand (but not in Australia, by the way). It is only recently that scientific study has centred on this part of the sky. 

The Age of Discovery touches on Polynesian and Maori Astronomy, which was vital to early human life in Aotearoa. Sadly so much of this knowledge is now lost. The 1769 Transit of Venus was the impetus to send Cook to the Pacific in the Endeavour, another hugely important link to astronomy. The chapters in Early New Zealand Astronomy  are full of stories of early observatories, colourful characters, and celestial highlights such as Halley's Comet. The author finishes the book with a nod to NZ women astronomers, the observatory at Mount John and a vision for a dark sky New Zealand. 

The astounding photography contained in Southern Nights really captures the imagination and enhances the book.  There are glorious night sky images as well as astrophotography and historic images and paintings.  I will share with you a fascinating fact I discovered on reading this book: the Southern Cross was observable by early Bronze Age people in the area now known as Europe - it wasn't always a southern group of stars. This really resonated with me,  especially considering the importance of this group of stars in our nation's psyche. 

There is so much to discover in this interesting, well written, and extensively researched book. You will want to read it cover to cover, and dip back into it again and again.