{"id":11,"date":"2025-03-02T05:51:41","date_gmt":"2025-03-02T05:51:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occultations.org.nz\/website_d9bc6b2c\/about\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T10:53:14","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T10:53:14","slug":"about","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/occultations.org.nz\/website_d9bc6b2c\/about\/","title":{"rendered":"About"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image alignright size-full\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"515\" height=\"400\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occultations.org.nz\/website_d9bc6b2c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Graham-Blow-with-Homer-DeBoll-Prize.jpg?resize=515%2C400&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Graham L. Blow (1954-2015) - Founding Director of the RASNZ Occultation Section with the 2013 Homer DeBoll award.\" class=\"wp-image-78\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occultations.org.nz\/website_d9bc6b2c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Graham-Blow-with-Homer-DeBoll-Prize.jpg?w=515&amp;ssl=1 515w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/occultations.org.nz\/website_d9bc6b2c\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/Graham-Blow-with-Homer-DeBoll-Prize.jpg?resize=300%2C233&amp;ssl=1 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 515px) 100vw, 515px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Graham Blow &#8211; Founder of RASNZ Occultation Section\/TTOA.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-columns is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"wp-block-column is-layout-flow wp-block-column-is-layout-flow\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<div class=\"nfd-gap-3xl wp-block-columns are-vertically-aligned-center is-not-stacked-on-mobile is-layout-flex wp-container-core-columns-is-layout-28f84493 wp-block-columns-is-layout-flex\">\n<div class=\"md:nfd-order-2 wp-block-column is-vertically-aligned-center is-layout-constrained wp-container-core-column-is-layout-a29f7d37 wp-block-column-is-layout-constrained\" style=\"flex-basis:100%\">\n<div class=\"nfd-gap-lg nfd-text-md wp-block-group is-vertical is-layout-flex wp-container-core-group-is-layout-fe9cc265 wp-block-group-is-layout-flex\">\n<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading nfd-text-giga nfd-text-current\">About us.<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The Trans-Tasman Occultation Alliance (TTOA) is a group within the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.rasnz.org.nz\/\">Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ)<\/a>. The aim of the Alliance is to support amateur astronomers across Australia, New Zealand and south-west Pacific to get the most out of occultation observing through the sharing of information, mutual support and the coordination of effort between observers and professional astronomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">The group was founded as the RASNZ Occultation Section by Graham Blow in 1977 initially to coordinate occultation observing in New Zealand but quickly extending to Australia. The name change to TTOA was to facilitate recognition that the group&#8217;s activities were relevant to people beyond New Zealand. With Graham&#8217;s passing in 2015, the directorship is now held by Steve Kerr.  To send Steve a message, refer to the Contact Us page.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\">Financial Membership is informal in the sense that information and support is offered to anyone regardless. Donations are however gratefully received and appreciated supporting the Alliance. Payment via PayPal is preferred and directed to <mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0);color:#0693e3\" class=\"has-inline-color\">subscriptions@occultations.org.nz<\/mark> . A typical donation is NZD$35 per year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"\"><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>About us. The Trans-Tasman Occultation Alliance (TTOA) is a group within the Royal Astronomical Society of New Zealand (RASNZ). The aim of the Alliance is to support amateur astronomers across Australia, New Zealand and south-west Pacific to get the most out of occultation observing through the sharing of information, mutual support and the coordination of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-11","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>About - Trans-Tasman Occultation Alliance<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/occultations.org.nz\/website_d9bc6b2c\/about\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"About - Trans-Tasman Occultation Alliance\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"About us. 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