The SPA Quarterly Magazine

January 2008

In this Issue:

Features:
7 Reading the heavens / Heather Couper and Nigel Henbest
19 Fermi, Drake, aliens and us / Roderick S Macdonald

Regulars:
4 AstroNews / Alan Longstaff
10 Telescope Topics / Ian Morison
   Schmidt-Newtonian and Maksutov-Newtonian telescopes
14 Amateur Scene / Peter Wade
   Rocket Week report
18 The Astro Historian / Stuart Williams
   Da Vinci decoded: the old Moon in the new Moon's arms
22 Young Stargazers / Emily Baldwin
   Double take - Samuel wins badge competition
   Beginners' Corner - the expanding Universe balloon
24 Space Exploration / Dave Tipper
   Mars rovers survive the storm

27 Reviews:
Touch the Universe
Miss Leavitt's Stars
The Big Dark
In the Shadow of the Moon
Stars and Planets
Our Place in the Universe
One Small Step?
Essential Elements
Stargazing 2008

30 Letters:
The first casualty of the Space Race
Poem: Supernova
Reminiscences of a lifetime's telescopes

33 At the Forum by Joe Cummings

34 The Society Pages:
Meeting report: the Big Bang machine
Asteroid shock at meeting
Weekend of astronomy

38 Winter Stars:
Constellation of the season: Cancer / Peter Grego

39 Deep Sky Notes:
Astronomy in the USA, Part I / Dave Fletcher

39 Sky Diary by Peter Grego:
Lunar occultations - Jon Harper
Meteor showers - Alastair McBeath

42 SPA contacts and meetings

43 Showcase
SPA members' images and observations

Prime Space:
The biggest pair of binoculars / Emily Baldwin
The Race to the Moon / Emily Baldwin
A comet's Tale / Daniel Milner
Make busy with the Beehive / Chris Dignan