Editorial
A thinner than usual Canopus this time – but with some excellent content all the same. We have had some really clear and brilliant viewing nights in the last week or two, but "some" is the operation word! There is still plenty of cloud around to spoil an evening’s viewing, but if you do manage to find a sizeable gap in the overcast, the views can be quite stupendous. Saturn and Jupiter are moving into the evening sky, the former just below the Hyades at present, and the latter still low-ish in the East but very bright. Some of our members have managed to spot comet Linear ( your editor not being one of the few ) which is moving quite rapidly at present.
Eric Brindeau has submitted another of his excellent Southern Sky Star Hopping articles, centred on the currently overhead ( well nearly ) constellation of Orion and using the catchy title "Turn Left at Orion". He has supplied a diagram with pointers, which we have included as a loose insert..
Eben van Zyl moves on to an astronomical curiosity in his article titles "The Quasars" and Dave Gordon lets us in on all that happened on the night of the Annual Star Party/Leonids watch. The former was great - the latter a non-event for Gautengers in general.
Brian Fraser has supplied us with a general guide to the skies above for the next 2 months. Remember, if you need the tables for the Sun, Moon and Planets - just dive into the website where they will shortly be loaded covering the whole year.
LIBRARY BOOKS – each year at this time we carry out an audit of our Library to check for damaged and/or missing books. If you are currently in possession of any books/magazines/videos or anything else borrowed from the Library, would you please return it so that it can be audited.
Wishing You all Health, Wealth and Success as we enter 2002 - may the worst of the Year to come, be better than the best of the Year just past.
The Editor - chris@penberthy.co.za