Editorial

I looked up into the 05:00 sky this morning after ten days of getting up too late for darkness and saw that Venus has overtaken us and is now beaming brightly in the East. It really is quite impressive when one considers that it was only about a month ago that it was still glowing low in the evening sky. Mars is also glowing redly overhead in the early morning sky and is of course much brighter than it's anti-namesake Antares.

Some articles of interest have been gleaned from the various NASA email lists and for those of you with access to the internet, a URL which points to a site giving the whole story or some additional information, is usually supplied.

And guess what - Hubble celebrates it's 11^th birthday and has just added picture number 100,000 to it's extensive photo archive. ( Good going for a spacecraft which wears glasses! ) There is a pointer to the Hubble archive website(s) which are a rich source of astronomical beauty.

Brian Fraser has submitted some information for the Variable of the Month which this month is R Leo. A concise write-up and a chart make up the whole package.

The highlights of overhead occurrences for the next two months are also supplied by Brian, and Eben van Zyl supplies the 3^rd in his Life in the Universe series which is part 2 of the How was the Earth formed section. Even though we tend to take for granted our existence in the universe, when reading Eben's words, one realises how everything has to mesh "just so" in order for us to live.

And just to be different - the Oscars kicked off with this year's host, comedian Steve Martin, and the crew of the international space station doing the honours. Also featuring later in the proceedings was the person who first conceived the Geostationary orbit, Sir Arthur C Clarke.

As always, our best wishes go to Danie as he continues to recover.

Remember to contact Brian Fraser if you wish to fly to Lusaka for the June 21^st Eclipse.

The Editor - chris@penberthy.co.za

 The 2000/1 Committee of the Johannesburg Centre