Editorial

Spring has sprung . . . but where's the rain? I know that rain and clouds are the bane of an astronomer's existence, but then so is the muck and dust that floats around in the atmosphere at the tail end of winter. We enjoy the most magnificent sunsets but at what cost? . . . a magnitude or two of visibility and some difficulty in obtaining sharp views. Of course, there are some filters that can help, but it's not quite the same is it. So let's hope we get a couple of days of rain to wash the skies clean and then we'll be OK 'til the rains arrive back at the end of September - then we can complain about the rotten weather!

Our friend from IPAC, Bill Wheaton, has sent an article covering some of the current projects of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory giving us an up-to-date status of two in particular - those being the Deep Space 1 and MAP projects. It's good to hear from you again Bill.

Wolf Lange starts with the first of a new fun and informative series which he has titled "The A to Zee of Astronomee". His opening description reads "A selective mixture of interesting terminology, objects, people of interest to all that love and are involved in Astronomy" and I guess this puts the whole series into perspective. I'm looking forward to reading all 26(?) articles Wolf.

Brian Fraser has supplied us with a general guide to the Heavenly Happenings for the next 2 months; and Eben van Zyl has submitted an interesting article on "The Life of a Star". I can recommend this to any of you who want to get a better idea of what goes on under the surface of the Sun. Brian and Eben are our most regular contributors and as editor of our monthly magazine, I am very grateful for their submissions.

As we enter a new ASSA Jo'burg centre year, we have to spare a thought for the members of your newly elected committee who will be doing all the organising of the programmes, meetings and outings for the year ahead. Also, the society has some financial commitments such as rent and the printing and posting of this publication. Your annual subs are thus a very important part of the running of the society and our plea to each and every one of you out there is to please pay these as soon as possible so that your committee may make suitable plans for the year ahead. Our current fee structure ( which remains unchanged for the year to come ) is very inexpensive for the perks provided - 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.

The Editor - chris@penberthy.co.za

 The 2001/2 Committee of the Johannesburg Centre