Editorial
The August meeting marked the first of the Jo'burg Centre's year under the auspices of your new committee. The main speaker, Professor Ron Buta, gave an excellent talk on Galaxies which was very well received. Currently working with Prof. David Block at Wits University, he is the first of many interesting speaker/subject combinations lined up for the 2000/1 year.
Your new Chairman for 2000/1 is Tom Budge, and his very able second-in-charge is Chris Stewart - welcome back to the committee gentlemen and we look forward to the next year under your guidance. Tom is of course a past chairman of the Jo'burg Centre and serves on the committee of the parent body, while Chris served on the committee until a couple of years ago (1998) when he left these sunny shores ( shores in Jo'burg??? ) for several months under the Northern skies of Belgium.
Bill Wheaton has supplied an update on the happenings at NASA and JPL with emphasis on the ISS or International Space Station. When finished, this orbiting edifice will be unmistakable as it cruises overhead in the early evening or morning - no other artificial satellite will produce quite as large a reflection.
Brian has supplied us with the Heavenly Happenings for the next 2 months as well as the Variable of the month - Delta Scorpii - which as many of you will know, appears to have undergone some sort of cataclysmic shake-up and has become much brighter than it was in the past.
What would you like to read about in Canopus? Please drop your editor a line on any subject(s) you'd like to see, or even better … if you are a budding journalist, and have an article you'd like to submit, send it through. I can almost guarantee you it'll be published as is.
It's that time of the year again where we ask you to pay your annual subscription fees which remain unchanged for the new year. Our fee structure, and especially the Family Member subscription, are very inexpensive for the perks they provide - access to a site with some excellent telescopes, a library with a great selection of books and magazines, the "Mars Bar" and of course, last but not least, your own Johannesburg Centre magazine - Canopus.