Making Contact

[Dave]

Well, hello to all! let me introduce myself. My name is Dave Reneke and I'm the News editor at SKY & SPACE Magazine. i know some of you may have heard what I'm about to say before, but this is directed to those who haven't ,so bear with me just for awhile OK? Thanks for that.

I teach astronomy at college here where I live on the mid-north coast of NSW, work for SKY & SPACE, I'm a science correspondent on radio conducting dozens of radio interviews each week across Oz, publish a weekly astronomy/space email newsletter for the press and general public, produce my own astronomy CD Roms, I'm also a science writer for the Herald/Sun newspaper group, and I run a program called 'Astronomy Outreach' which takes astronomy into the school system.... we travel a lot and donate a telescope and software package to each school to help them start up an astronomy club. .. (sometimes I eat food!!) It's good though to be getting paid to do a job which is really a hobby.

I'd like to congratulate you Mike Salway for putting together this amazing forum. A great job, well done! I'll be keeping in touch with Mike throughout 2005 and we hope to see him regularly as part of the S&S team.

At SKY & SPACE we especially appreciate your support as the transitionary period passes and the magazine evolves more into the reason it started in the first place - to address the wants and needs of you guys (and gals!), the interested Aussie amateurs who just want to pick up a copy of a magazine and read articles of interest to YOU... ones that you can understand!

We've discussed the format of the magazine many times and one thing keeps surfacing - you all want to see popular subject material, scope and equipment reviews, 'how/what to observe' articles and readers pics. Well, this magazine and the management want to bring it to you so tell us, repeatedly, if there's something bugging you OK?

Tell us what YOU want to see.. maybe a future article that hasn't been touched on before... we'll listen to you, promise!

Rest assured that SKY & SPACE Magazine is continuing to support you guys 100%. It's an all Aussie publication run for, and by, Australians.

The past problems have been rectifiied and now, with an entirely new team at the helm, you can look forward to a regular magazine of now 100 pages FULL of interesting stories, reviews, latest news, readers pics, affordable astronomy CD Roms, etc. etc. AND the best quality astronomical images available in any magazine.

If you are a newcomer to astronomy you'll find the mag a bonus. There are a swag of new storylines and features earmarked for 2005, written in a language you can understand.

We will also be starting up a free email newsletter service so, if you want the latest astronomy and space stories sent directly to your inbox (it's secure- no giving out your address to anyone) then send us a message at NewsUpdate@SkyandSpace.com.au

Believe me, I have the greatest respect for you all who post to this forum. After reading your posts I sometimes sit back and feel so relieved that the future of our hobby is in great hands. The young generation (I'm just passed that one) are such an inspiration and want to learn. If I can help you I will! If I can't I'll pass it on to someone who can!

Take care, and keep up your interest. Persevere with your hobby and don't give up OK? If it bugs you CONTACT ME, or someone else who can help. We're all here for you. Remember, where you might be now I and my colleagues were 30 years ago ... nothins' changed

[ving]

G'day Dave, how the hell are ya! :)

welcome to the forum and thanks for the post!

mike is on your team? (or did I miss read that?)

anyhow thnx for the support :)

[Dave]

Hi Ving

Thanks for the welcome mate. Always happy to rap with you all.

Mike is not as yet 'on the team' but we'd like to talk more with him about it. He's got a lot to offer and that can only be good for astronomy in general. All the best.

[loopy]

Go Mike :D

*cough* More Astrophotography stuff *cough* :)

Actually, something that I haven't really seen touched on in other places, what about articles on practical astronomy? It would probably be a bit more advanced than the usual stuff on just viewing, etc, but what about maybe an article on how to measure the colour spectrum from a star to analyse red/blue shift and maybe determine what it's made out of? Is that too nerdy? :)

Cheers,


Brad

[rumples riot]

Hey Welcome Dave,

I read your magazine, and have to say that I have been really impressed with the content and its ability to rival the US mags. The November issue had an interesting article on the birth and death of stars and the review of eyepieces was of real value.

However, one thing that I would like to see from my own point of interest is how to do photoshop processing, in particular masking and other techniques that would aid in my advancement of astrophotgraphy. I am sure that this will aid a lot of others also.

Anyway hope that this is not asking too much.

Paul

[beren]

Gday Dave , well done on the new look magazine, have really enjoyed recent editions .

Just one thought in regards to equipment reviews , how about a article on GOTO scopes . Last couple of years has seen a great influx of new scopes and i think it would be handy for people to know whats available in between the budget and top end stuff eg; Meades lx75 series , ETXs , Celestrons advanced series.

Ditto on Pauls suggeston , that would be great as well as other prominent software.

[iceman]

Hi Dave! :D

Thanks for dropping by and signing up! It was great to meet you at Erina the other week, I wish the Central Coast had more astronomy talks like that, there really seems to be a lack of anything astronomy related on the central coast.. Not even any amateur clubs that I could fine, I either had to join one in Sydney or Newcastle.

I guess it's talks like that, that can bring people interested in astronomy together, and when people are together like that, that's when small groups might get formed, people might start observing together, and it all starts from there

I've said it before, but the mag (Sky&Space) is looking really really good right now, lots of great content and covers material for both the casual interest in space and astronomy, to the amateur astronomers who read it for the equipment reviews and more technical articles and how-to's.

I think you'll need to preserve that balance too - as an amateur astronomer of course i'd love to see more technical how-to articles, DIY articles for telescope building or mods to already bought telescopes, observing chairs, more on astrophotography (the recent articles on astrophotography were great), how to use hartman masks, post-processing of images, etc. I also like Brad's idea about practical astronomy, though i'm sure it'd go over the head of most of us :)

The equipment reviews are a must-have as well, the eyepiece reviews in the last 2 articles were fantastic, and even more so because it was also a price-comparison and not just the view. Something that was missing from the Orion SVP review was price!! What range of prices can you buy it for in both australian shops and frmo overseas?

But as I said, you can't get too technical or you'll lose the casual reader, the one who buys it because they're interested in space news, or learning the technical jargon, or have a slight interest in observing and are starting to get into it more.. if you go too technical, you're only aiming at a small part of the market and might lose readers.

Oh and more readers' pictures too, there seemed to be a few less in the Nov/Dec edition than in previous ones..


Anyway thanks again for the support of this site, hopefully with interest and contributions from experts like yourself, we'll see this site really grow and become a fantastic community and resource for amateur astronomers and people interest in getting into stargazing as a hobby.

I'm heading to Port McQuarie over the xmas holidays for a week, and plan on going to the observatory there.. will you be in town?

[mch62]

Hi Dave yes Mike has done an excellent job with the forum and web site. Don't know how he has the time.

Dave I have yet another suggestion for future articles. It's one I have been asked a couple of times and see on various forums, but with the popularity of Web cam imaging in the form of the ToUcam could you do an article on aquiring and processing the images in the form of say using registax.
If you have done it before that is Ok , I may have missed that issue.
Mark

[[1ponders]]

Welcome, welcome Dave.

Definately ditto to Pauls suggestion for Photoshop and image processing.

Gods you teach astronomy, what a job!:cool: Do you happen to run external courses as well? I'd love to come down and do acourse but I cant leave the second best job in the world, :whistle: teaching horticulture at TAFE,(seeing you've grabbed the first).

Welcome and congrats on a great mag.
Paul

[loopy]

G'Day again Dave,

Something I thought of last night, although I'm pretty sure I know what the answer is going to be. Have you guys ever thought of including a CD with the magazine? There is a lot of astronomy related software out there that I'm sure many people would like to try, but don't have sufficient internet access (ie trying to download large files over dial up, or maybe other restrictions like work computers) to download. Maybe including a CD with the magazine could help these people out? Examples of programs I'd expect to see on there would be Registax, MaximDL (all demo's of course), maybe that Dark Adaptation software that was mentioned elsewhere on this forum, a trial version of Photoshop CS, etc etc. It probably doesn't even have to be specificly astronomy related - there's a space shuttle simulator available as freeware for windows called "Orbiter", which is supposedly in use by the ESA to train some of their astronauts on operating in the shuttle.
Apart from software, you could also include users photos, so that people can use them as desktop background images. Maybe include a bunch of "raw" photos for people to try their hand at processing. Along similar lines, it would be simple to include a video tutorial or two on photo processing - that way people can actually see the effect that each processing step has on the finished product.
The major arguements against this idea that I can see is the both the increase in cost it would incur, and what to do when you run out of software to include on the CD. Potentially, both of these could be solved with the same plan - maybe only include a CD every couple of issues? These issues could possibly cost a few dollars more - maybe even offer CD and non-CD versions?
Food for thought.

Cheers,


Brad

[Dave]

Hi Brad
Thanks very much for your interesting idea. Unfortunately it's the $$$ that would stop a CD being produced at this stage - BUT I like the idea. We'd like to concentrate mostly in continuing to bring you all an on time, 100% Aussie mag you can be proud of with more interesting articles, pics, and segments, still with 100 pages at no cost increase!

Maybe you all could search through the internet for links to sites offering free programs, articles, or similar stuff .. like freeware or shareware. I've noticed this type of thing while surfing so perhaps it might produce some material simuilar to what you'd like to see on a CD. Just a thought.

Brad, let's rainckeck the idea for the present OK? I'm cool on your suggestion so I'll throw it at the boss (just after he backs another winner) and see how it lands.

Note to Mike: (I know he scours all posts)
You can feel free to use the stories I send out in my Astronomy Media Services newsletter on your news page. It might help fill a time consuming gap until you settle on something.


Hmmmm.. no clouds, no rain, clear skies, dark night, and a meteorite shower on the way. I've got 2 scopes sitting here...bye!

[Dave]

Mike

Thanks for the title change to 'Fresh Blood' - cool sound while still retaining that 'youthful image'.

[iceman]

Dave,

Sounds good, thanks for that.. I need to keep the astro-news updated on the front-page, but usually find myself limited for time.. Hopefully the other site updates will settle down soon and give me more time to post astro-related news.

No probs Dave :D Check out this thread (http://www.iceinspace.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=275) and you'll see how you can set it to what you want as well! :computer:

[silvinator]

Hi Dave, congratulations on the new look mag :clap: . I'm really enjoying the influx of equipment reviews. It's a girl's perogative to get her hands on as much astro grear as possible! :D Those equipment reviews really help in narrowing down the choices so please, keep them coming. The latest budget widefield ep article was a treat! More please! :prey2:
I would also like to see more how to's on all aspects of this wonderful hobby of ours. I second the photoshop, astrophotography and GOTO reviews/articles.
I also really like loopy's idea on practical astronomy. It would be nice to know how or if we can contribute to the science of astronomy itself. After all, astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can make significant contributions to the development of a scientific field. So, no, I don't think the idea is too nerdy at all.

[beren]

Oh no Silvie i can hear Lee groan from here ......hes gonna see Sky and Space as a shopping catalogue LOL

[silvinator]

:lol2: Stuart :D
You know, it's funny, I told Le about that person that wrote into S&S from NZ wanting less equipment reviews and more science related articles and he actually agreed with me that it should be the other way around! Go figure! I suppose he didn't realise the scope of what he said...

yeah, yeah, I hear you guys *groan* :P

[Dave]

Hi Silvinator

Thanks for your comments on the new look S&S. It's good to see the gals becoming involved. I teach a course in beginners astronomy at college and you know, probably 60% - 70% are women who sign up!

I agree the equip. and practical astronomy aricles should continue to feature and believe me, we monitor all posts for comments and listen to what is being discussed.

I've seen a few good pics posted on the forum lately .. let's get 'em into the mag huh?

[silvinator]

Hello Dave, I wish I could get more gals involved in this hobby, especially at a young age. One day I would love to teach astronomy as well. Start them young and they'll be hooked for life! It's good to hear women getting themselves enrolled in these courses and I hope one day soon, I'll start studying astronomy too but must save up the $$$. Hey, I'm always happy to voice my opinions, especially when it comes to Australia's one and only astronomy mag. Maybe it would be a good article idea, a discussion on women astronomers. I recall there was one article a while back about women who have made a significant contribution to astronomy during a time when they were not allowed to work in science at all. I found it fascinating that they were still able to contribute even though they were merely data entry operators or "calculators" as some called them. I'm not sure what this article should be about but I'm sure you guys can think of something great to say about us :P :2thumbs:
Hey Stuart, I would have had an orion 80mm ed this year (as I have mentioned elsewhere in this forum) but I got too greedy and bought all these other things instead. Only afterwards did Le tell me he was going to buy one for me :sad: :sad: That'll teach me for browsing astromart too much!!
So I'll have to wait until my birthday next year mate! Darn it :bashcomp: