October 2008
Volume 4. Number 6. Issue 32
COVER STORY
Challenging Times for NASA
Despite its recent headline grabbing successes, NASA faces an awkward future.
By Greg Bryant
NEWS & FEATURES
News Notes
• Make Way for Makemake
• Australia Seeds Space!
• Mars' Ancient Water Works
and more...
Spotlight On...Invisible Ink and Centaurus A
What happens when you take a deep, deep image?
By Michael Sidonio
A Martian Wonderland
Scientists are racing to learn as much as they can with the Phoenix lander before Martian winter arrives
By J. Kelly Beatty
Solving a Halloween Mystery
Astronomers now realise that the dramatic brightening of an unassuming star in October 2006 was probably a once-in-a-career event.
By Joseph Patterson
Insight
Ten things you might not know about Saturn.
The Coming Giant Sky Patrols
What will it mean when machines watch everything to 24th magnitude? For one thing: new opportunities for amateur science under the stars.
By Peter Jedicke and Robert Jedicke
ONLINE EXTRA: Sky Surveys
Discoveries
Seeing and Hearing the Universe.
By David Ellyard
PRODUCTS & REVIEWS
New Product Spotlight
• Orion's Starshoot Pro Deep Space CCD Colour Imaging Camera
AS&T Test Report
Sky Voyager
One of astronomy's most enduring desktop-planetarium programs keeps getting better with age.
By Joe Heafner
Quick Look
Nikon's D300 Digital SLR
Is this the best Nikon yet for astrophotography?
By Dennis di Cicco
Books & Beyond
• Revisiting Apollo
• Treats for Two Eyes
OBSERVING & EXPLORING
Binocular Highlight
Dim Epsilon Indi
By Les Dalrymple
Tonight's Sky
Globulars on the Meridian
By Greg Bryant
Sun, Moon, and Planets
An Evening Star Delight
By Greg Bryant
Celestial Calendar
Antares in the Evening
By Steve Kerr
Celestial Calendar
A Decade of Naked-Eye Comets
By David Seargent
Double Star Notes
Double Stars in Phoenix
By Ross Gould
Celestial Calendar
A Mira in Lyra
By Alan MacRobert
Exploring The Moon
A Colourful Moon?
By Charles A. Wood
Suburban Star-Hop
A Tale of Two Globulars
By Ken Hewitt-White
Deep Sky Delights
In Chains
By Les Dalrymple
Targets
Foxfire Nights
By Sue French
ACTIVITIES & PEOPLE
Improving Your DSLR Photos
More exposures and careful calibration are the keys to great astrophotography.
By Jerry Lodriguss
Ask AS&T
• Two Eyes or One
• Lunar "Light Pollution"
• At Home in the Big Bang
Telescope Workshop
A Great Big Yolo
By Gary Seronik
Club Profile
Sutherland Astronomical Society
By Melissa Hulbert
Community News
Gallery
The 2008 CWAS AstroFest: Looking to the Future
By John Sarkissian
ALSO IN THIS ISSUE
Spectrum
Your VIP Pass
By Greg Bryant
Letters
• Solar Maximum
• Moons Around Moons
• and more
Subscription Offer
Receive 9 issues for the price of 8...and a FREE Milky Way Chart! See our offer
Manufacturer & Dealer Directory
Focal Point
Confessions of an Eclipse Chaser
By Peter Anderson
Index to Advertisers