Discovery

Getting Starry-Eyed

When is a jungle gym not a jungle gym? When it's "Pipehenge", a combination astrolabe, sundial, sextant, observatory, compass and astronomical teaching tool. The New Zealand-developed system has been attracting international attention since appearing recently on Beyond 2000.

Developer Eric Jackson has been delighted by the interest shown in Pipehenge, with 60 in place in New Zealand, 20 in Australia and a major push into the Northern Hemisphere planned.

Pipehenge can be used as a climbing frame, but its real power comes in the many and varied ways in which it can be used to explore our nearest star -- the Sun -- and its relationship to our planet, says Jackson. He's seen intermediate school children discover new ways of using the structure to watch the Earth turning, Seventh Formers develop computer programs to supplement their observations, and adults fill surprising gaps in their astronomical knowledge through demonstrations of the system.

Each unit is tailored for the latitude of use, with Auckland Pipehenges adjusted for use at that city's latitude of 36^o South and Christchurch units set at 43^o S. One of the beauties of Pipehenge is that so many of its possibilities can be explored during the day, and one unit has recently been introduced to a school for the blind to help the children there understand more about astronomy.

Pipehenge and its potential will be explained by Jackson at the Astronomy Education day run by Christchurch's Science Alive! in early July. Jackson will be joined by professional astronomers from New Zealand and around the world in a series of sessions looking at how to best present astronomy as part of the school curriculum.

The "Eye on the Universe" course is being run in conjunction with the first joint meeting of the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand and the Astronomical Society of Australia. Noted UK astronomer and writer Patrick Moore will be attending both, as well as presenting a public lecture on July 12th.