Editorial

We're almost halfway through the year - as this editorial is being typed, the Winter Solstice is exactly one month away and the weather has been quite chilly - unlike last year when many people questioned whether or not Winter actually ever arrived.

The ASSA Jo'burg Centre's year, which runs from July to June, is almost at an end and as you're all aware, the AGM will be held on Saturday 15th July at our physical address from 19:00 to 20:00 after which we will have a bring 'n braai.

With the AGM in mind, we would like you to give some thought to your committee for the year to come. If any of you would like to see a particular person serving on the committee, or would like to serve on the committee yourself, please put their/your names forward so that we can include them on the ballot paper for the election. Bear in mind that the person being nominated must of agree to their nomination.

Bill Wheaton makes a welcome return to these pages after an enforced absence of some months and gives us an update on the NEAR-Shoemaker probe. Welcome back Bill.

Brian lets us know about the astronomical phenomena for the next two months, and Raymond has supplied a short write up and some pictures of the alignment of the Moon and superior planets at the beginning of April. Pretty good stuff for a first attempt.

For those of you that use the GPS (Global Positioning System) there is good news in that the Selective Availability feature, which introduced a small inaccuracy in the readings measured by the civilian GPS receivers, has been switched off. My own receiver is now giving accuracies as good as eight feet! I've included President Clinton's announcement in this regard (submitted by Brian) for your perusal.

The Editor

 The 1999/2000 Committee of the Johannesburg Centre