Editorial

Winter is now firmly ensconced with its attendant pros and cons.  The former are those wonderful clear nights with brilliant pin-point Stars and easy to find observing favourites.  The cons - well that’s the bit where you have to dress up with extra layers so as not to turn into a human Popsicle.

…and talking about brilliant pin-points, Venus has now disappeared from the evening sky as it prepares to scoot between ourselves and the Sun on the 8^th on June.  I hope that like your editor, you are all going to do some serious observing on that particular day.  Make sure that you’re set up before sunrise so that you can catch the whole show, which lasts from about 07:00 to a little after 13:00.  Remember, this event really is a once-in-a-lifetime showpiece unless you’re prepared to move to the middle of the Pacific for the next one in about 8 years time....of course, our Sister Planet becomes the “Morning Star” in a couple of week’s time.

The Saturn/Jupiter evenings were well-attended and provided us with interesting information about both of the Gas Giants - Brian Fraser and Dave Gordon doing the honours with some great images and statistics.  Jupiter is still high in the evening sky and looks magnificent, even though it’s angular size is now somewhat smaller than it was at our closest approach a couple of months back.

Our Chairman Dave Gordon chats about the Astronomical delights in store for us over the next little while and Alec Jamieson responds to Dave’s article in the April issue with some more cosmological notions of his own.  Brian Fraser provides the tables of heavenly happenings for the next couple of months and Chris Stewart has submitted an article about an amateur rocket which has reached the edge of Space.  Your editor has gleaned some articles from the Space Agency websites as well as one about a private, piloted rocket which looks as if it may just be the one to lift the X-Prize for the first private venture to place a crew in space and safely return them to Earth.  Good luck to Burt Rutan and his partners.

( Added after Canopus printed - SpaceShipOne to attempt suborbital flight 21 June ).

Lastly, if You have any editorial aspirations, and would like to try your hand at editing and producing the Canopus, please contact the Committee, as your current editor will be retiring from his post later this year.

The Editor - chris @ penberthy . co . za

 The 2003/4 Committee of the Johannesburg Centre