Solar Tsunamis

Tūhura Otago Museum presents: Solar Tsunamis – Parawhenua Kōmaru. An interactive science showcase about space weather and its effects on Aotearoa New Zealand. Get hands-on with magnets, play with a plasma ball, generate your own electricity, make an aurora, and much, much more.

Discover the realms of magnetism, electricity, and geology as you learn how a phenomenon that produces our awesome aurora could also disrupt our electricity and communication systems. Find out why space weather poses these risks, and learn how an international research collaboration led by the University of Otago is preparing Aotearoa New Zealand’s response to a hazard that is out of this world.

The showcase is designed to engage all age groups; visitors both young and old will be amazed by what they can learn. Solar Tsunamis will especially benefit intermediate and secondary-aged students as they develop their understanding of physics, Earth, and space science.

Current Location:

17 Feb – 22 March: Hāwera (Hāwera Library, Te Ramanui o Ruapūtahanga)

Upcoming Locations:

4 April – 26 May: Palmerston North (Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science & Heritage)
30 May – 21 June: Kaikōura (Kaikōura District Library)
5 – 20 July: Rolleston (Te Ara Ātea)
1 – 19 September: Christchurch (Tūranga, Central Library)

Previous Locations:

Dunedin (Tūhura Otago Museum)
Lake Tekapo (Dark Sky Project)
Hokitika (MTFJ Hub, Pakiwaitara Building)
Motueka (Motueka District Museum)
Napier (Faraday Museum of Technology)
Auckland (Museum of Transport and Technology)
South Auckland (Papakura Museum)
Raetihi (Ngāti Rangi Community Health Centre)
Rotorua (Rotorua Library)
Wellington (Space Place) Taupō (Taupō Museum)