Editorial

Some of you may have noticed a little bit of a bite in the air during the evenings over the last couple of weeks - could it be that Autumn has at last decided to put in an appearance before Winter does? Venus looks glorious in the West and Mars is putting on quite a show in the East. While not as bright as the evening star, it is unmistakable with it’s deep ruddy hue.

Instead of a variable this month, Danie has sent us an article on the ASSA Symposium held recently down in Cape Town while Bill Wheaton has submitted a piece on Mars - appropriate if one considers it’s current overhead position and brightness. Brian has supplied us with the Sky happenings for May and June and Eben van Zyl has been prompted to write a short article after reading Chris Stewart’s fun article on Relativity in the April issue.

We have picked up an article from Associated Press in Boston on the origin of the term "a Blue Moon" whereby the Sky and Telescope magazine admits to an error in one of it’s articles on the subject. Apparently a Blue Moon is not the second Full Moon in a month, but the fourth Full Moon in a season. This error has been with us since 1946. Read the article and see what you think

Please read the notices of the forthcoming meetings - and especially note the date and venue of the ASSA parent body’s Annual General Meeting. Try to attend if you can.

Thanks to Chris Stewart for forwarding some light relief in the form of the Alien cartoons.

We have been a little short of articles this month - all of you budding Pulitzer Prize winners out there please take note. Anything you submit will be considered seriously for publication.

The Editors

Chris chris@aqua.co.za,
Ray   raymondb@is.co.za
Lori   barbour@global.co.za

 The 1998/99 Committee of the Johannesburg Centre