Editorial

How awful!! The news of the breakup of the Space Shuttle Columbia on 1^st February and the tragic loss of all those on board once again highlights the risky nature of manned space exploration. Many of us tend to think that it is at takeoff where the real danger lies and that once up in orbit it's plain sailing until the wheels stop again at Cape Canaveral at the end of the mission. However, when one takes a step back and views the whole process, you can see that the re-entry phase of the mission is actually the most risky and that there is plenty that can go wrong even at that late stage.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to all of those who lost their loved ones.

This tragedy notwithstanding, manned space exploration MUST go on as Man's future includes the use of and travelling in, space. If we don't get out there and find other places to live, it could spell the end of Mankind, as one of those space rocks up there may decide to pay us a visit with devastating consequences ( refer to Dinosaurs - extinction of ). Another thought - we seem to be doing a pretty good job of messing up this beautiful planet of ours and this could also lead to our speedy demise. So let's make sure that there are other places to continue our existence.

The planets are really putting on a good show at present with Saturn, Jupiter and Venus all vying for the top honours. Saturn's rings are wide open and look quite phenomenal at moderate to high magnifications. Jupiter is very bright and a good sized telescope will show plenty of detail while Venus is the brightest of all even though showing no detail in even the largest of amateur 'scopes. On the 30^th January, the Moon passed very close to Venus and created a beautiful view. It was also showing lots of reflected Earthshine and the effect together with its "proximity" to Venus was quite magnificent. See The Hour of the Planets.

Eben van Zyl has submitted part 2 of his article on the measurement of Stellar diameters, and our Chairman Dave Gordon has submitted his experiences of the December 4^th Solar eclipse.

As always, Brian Fraser supplies us with the heavenly happenings for the next 2 months - many thanks to you Brian - we are most appreciative. We have also gleaned some articles from NASA websites including a statement on the Columbia disaster from NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.

The Editor - chris@penberthy.co.za

 The 2002/3 Committee of the Johannesburg Centre