july 2011 - Astronomical Society of Southern Africa

canopus july 2011
Name Object RA: DEC: Magnitude Size
M41 Open Cluster 06h41m.2 -20 o 44’52” 4.5 38.0’
It is easy to make friends with fellow astronomers, as they are usually friendly and
winsome people. Eric Brindeau, who was so helpful to me and did such an outstanding
job at Canopus, became such a friend. Although, sadly, he will be leaving his position at
the end of June, he remains a friend to me and to everyone else at Canopus.
— Thanks Magda! Your articles have inspired me to find new and exciting objects. I wait
in anticipation for your forthcoming book — Editor
Magda Streicher
magdalena@mweb.co.za
Magda—a past President of ASSA—is a passionate deep-sky observer and views
from excellent, dark skies on a farm close to the Zimbabwe border. Her fascination
in the stars goes back to childhood and over the past 15 years has contributed
greatly to visual astronomy in SA, helping to motivate others to observe and record
deep-sky objects. Using 12” and 16” Schmidt-Cassegrain telescopes, she hunts
down and sketches these faint fuzzies, sharing her interest through regular talks and
articles. She contributes to various deep sky sections in SA as well as publications
like Canopus and Deep Sky Delights, her regular deep sky column in MNASSA
(Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of SA). Magda is currently working on
her book “Astronomy Delights”, which she plans to finish towards the end of year.
Satellite Phone Dish to be Turned into Telescope
Submitted by Eric Brindeau
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/ireland/2011/0510/1224296602827.html
The Irish Times - Tuesday, May 10, 2011: A 32-metre satellite dish originally used in the
1980s to take transatlantic calls from Europe to the US is to be reborn as a deep
space radio telescope.
The huge dish was originally constructed in Co Cork in 1984 but was retired in the
mid-1990s when new fibre-optic transatlantic cables were laid.
There are only a handful of these dishes remaining globally, many of which have
fallen into disrepair.
Right: Arek Pilat, a satellite engineer at Elfordstown
Earthstation, Midleton, Co Cork, with the former
telephone satellite dish which is to become a deep
space radio telescope available to students for
educational purposes.
Photograph: Gerard McCarthy (Irish Times)
page 11