January 2005

Volume 1.  Number 1

COVER STORY

Planetary Harmony

Resonances are a key to understanding how planetary systems form and evolve.

By Robert Naeye

NEWS & FEATURES

News Notes

• Does Beta Pictoris have a planet?

• When very big things collide

• Martian mudcakes

and more...

Spotlight On...Smashing News on Black Holes
Collisions between galaxies can lead to the creation of monster black holes.

By Alister Graham

Mapping the Moon's Shadow

Creating tracks of solar eclipses is now very easy with planetarium software, but long ago such maps had to be laboriously computed and plotted by hand.

By Eli Maor

The Hybrid Solar Eclipse of April 2005

Astronomers are preparing for April's annular-total eclipse of the Sun.

By Fred Espanak and Jay Anderson

After the Fire

Two years after it was almost wiped out by bushfires, Canberra's Mt Stromlo Observatory is rising from the ashes.  Its new telescope, SkyMapper, will survey the southern sky.

By Brendon Tingley

Moon of Mystery

A long-awaited moment has arrived, as the Huygens probe makes its descent onto Saturn's strange moon, Titan.

By Jonathan Nally

OBSERVING & EXPLORING

Southern Binocular Highlights

Really Red R Doradus

By Les Dalrymple

Tonight's Sky

On First Sighting Dorado

By Greg Bryant

Observer's Log

I'm Your Venus

By Steve Massey

Sun, Moon, and Planets

The planets put on a show

By Jonathan Nally and Roger W. Sinnott

Exploring the Moon

Floor-Fractured Craters

By Charles A. Wood

Celestial Calendar

The Comets of Summer

By David Seargent

The Shadowy World of Occultations

By Graham Blow

Deep Sky Delights

A Summer Sampler

By David Frew

First Light: For Beginners

The Pleiades: A Star Cluster for Everyone

By Ken Hewitt-White

PRODUCTS & REVIEWS

AS&T Test Report

TheSky6

A top-of-the-line sky-charting program gets a major upgrade.

By David Ratledge

Buyer's Guide

Compact Wide-Field Refractors

By Gary Seronik

Books & Beyond

• A Ripping Yarn

• Understand Your Scope

Digital Astronomy

If the Plug-in FITS

By Eddie Trimarchi

ACTIVITIES & PEOPLE

The Astronomy Scene

Starry One Night...

By Tony Surma-Hawes

Project

Make a red LED torch

By Frank Cole

Hobby Q&A

• How do I build a replica of Galileo's telescope?

• How do "sundogs" ge their name?

How far away could I see the Sun through a small scope?

Gallery

Activities

NSW's largest astro society turns 50

By Greg Bryant

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Spectrum

An International Science

By Jonathan Nally

Letters

Letters of welcome from the astronomical community

Mission Update

By Jonathan McDowell

Focal Point

One of Those Nights

By Peter Anderson

Index to Advertisers