Sky & Telescope - January 2024 - 4

SPECTRUM by Peter Tyson
Helping Hands
AT S&T, we rely to the nth degree on our contributing editors, those
writers who aren't on staff but pen many of our stories. In this
issue alone, they've written two of the five feature articles and eight
of the columns. This month we've had some changes regarding this
deeply valued group that I'd like to share with you.
First, a huge thank you to Fred Schaaf for all his years as an S&T columnist.
For 31 years, beginning in 1993 with Stars & Planets, he wrote various observing
columns, among them Guide to the Evening Sky (1997-2004); Sun, Moon &
Planets (2004-2020); and Northern Hemisphere's Sky (2004-2016). That last
one morphed first into Under the Stars in 2017 and then into Evenings with the
Stars, which wrapped up last month. All told, since his first contribution to S&T
in 1977, Fred has authored more than 860 articles for the magazine.
With this issue, three new names appear on the contributing editors list at
right. First, we're extremely pleased to welcome back Stephen James O'Meara.
Steve began working for S&T in 1979 and was a staff editor through 1995 and
then a contributing editor until 2007. As many S&T readers know, Steve is one
of the most talented visual observers out there, with several major " firsts. " One
of those was determining Uranus's rotational period, which Contributing Editor
Tom Dobbins deems " perhaps the last great planetary discovery by a visual
observer " (see page 53). Starting with this issue, Steve offers a new monthly
column on naked-eye stargazing entitled Stories in the Stars (page 45).
We also welcome Scott Harrington, whose Focal Point appears on page 84.
A talented young amateur astronomer, Scott has produced multiple observing
articles for us, from " Star-Forming Regions in Faraway Galaxies " (S&T: May
2021, p. 22) to December's Going Deep, " IC 10 - The Hidden Dwarf. "
Finally, we welcome Jonathan Nally. Jonathan was editor in chief of Australian
Sky & Telescope, our sister magazine Down Under, which sadly ceased
publication in recent months. He now joins us with a monthly Southern Hemisphere
sky chart and observing notes on page 44. (Planetary Almanac moves to
page 54.) Jonathan will also soon launch a monthly online column on Southern
Hemisphere observing - watch our website for further details.
David Grinspoon, as you'll know if you read his most recent column in
November, has paused Cosmic Relief, which we've run since 2009. We hope
David can resume writing for us in the future, but for now he's too busy with
his new position as NASA's new Senior Scientist for Astrobiology Strategy.
Lastly, a shout-out to Senior Contributing Editor Roger Sinnott, the mastermind
behind the 2024 Skygazer's Almanac that comes bundled with this issue.
In short, we simply couldn't do without our contributing
editors. A final collective thanks to all 32 of them.
Editor in Chief
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4
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Sky & Telescope - January 2024

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Sky & Telescope - January 2024
