New Zealand's own Stonehenge opened 12 February

Awa Press has published the exclusive full-colour guide to Stonehenge Aotearoa, New Zealand's fabulous new science project, which was opened on 12 February by New Zealand Nobel Prize-winning scientist Alan MacDiarmid, and is destined to become a major attraction.

An adaptation of the world-famous 4000-year-old Stonehenge on England's Salisbury Plains, it stands on a magnificent rural site in the Wairarapa. The brainchild of astronomer Richard Hall and members of the Phoenix Astronomical Society, it has been especially designed for observation of the Southern Hemisphere night sky from its particular latitude and longitude.

The project took well over 1000 hours of surveying and astronomical calculations, plus a year of construction. It combines modern scientific knowledge with Celtic and Babylonian astronomy, Polynesian navigation and Maori star lore. It is supported by a grant from the New Zealand government's Science and Technology Development fund (administered by the Royal Society) but has been built almost entirely by volunteer labour.

Stonehenge Aotearoa: The Complete Guide tells the story of this amazing project. Illustrated with stunning colour photographs, it also includes fascinating material on the original Stonehenge, and other stone circles and prehistoric monuments around the world. Richard Hall's book How to Gaze at the Southern Stars became a runaway bestseller after it was published by Awa Press last November.

The Phoenix Astronomical Society's aim is to make astronomy accessible and understandable for everyone. Stonehenge Aotearoa provides a brilliant introduction for newcomers to star-gazing, as well as intriguing scientific information for astronomers. It also enables visitors to learn about how their ancestors – and peoples of all ancient cultures – used the sun, moon and stars to devise calendars, work out the seasons for planting and hunting, and navigate across oceans.

There is huge international interest in the project, with the Society's website receiving around 40,000 hits a day.

There are also two observatories on the site, one containing the telescope of legendary New Zealand astronomer Peter Read, whose television series The Night Sky transfixed the nation in the 1960s and '70s. A third, the Matariki Observatory, dedicated to Maori astronomy, is under construction using a dome donated by the United States Navy from its former installation at Black Birch in the South Island.

Richard Hall is available for interviews. Contact Andrea Tandy (04) 385-0740 or 021-83-93-73, or email publicity@awapress.com. Also available: review copies, cover image and author photo. For more information on Stonehenge Aotearoa, please visit www.astronomynz.org.nz