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6 ASTRONOMY • JANUARY 2018

BY DAVID J. EICHER

FROM THE EDITOR

Editor David J. Eicher

Art Director LuAnn Williams Belter

EDITORIAL

Managing Editor Kathi Kube

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Reynolds, Sheldon Reynolds, Erika Rix, Raymond Shubinski

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Adam Frank, John S. Gallagher lll, Daniel W. E. Green, William K.

Hartmann, Paul Hodge, Edward Kolb, Stephen P. Maran, Brian

May, S. Alan Stern, James Trefil

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T

his year, our maga-

zine marks an anni-

versary — 45 years

of publication, and

still going strong.

In August 1973, the title’s

founder, Steve Wa lt her,

produced the first issue,

which offered 48 pages and

five feature articles,

plus information

about what to see in

the night sky that

month. As the ’70s

transformed into the

’80s, and the Voyager

spacecraft began

exploring Jupiter and

Saturn, Astronomy

became the world’s

largest publication on

the subject, a status it

has not relinquished.

Wa lt her d ied i n

1977, but the company

he started —

AstroMedia Corp. —

brought in Richard

Berry to become editor

and Bob Maas to take

the publisher’s helm.

Together, Berry and Maas

forged Astronomy into a solid,

respectable, and exhilarating

package showcasing the best

astronomy had to offer

throughout the late 1970s and

early 1980s. Berry and his

co-workers lorded over one

of the most exciting periods

in the history of modern

astronomy, covering the

Voyager missions to the plan-

ets in spectacular detail. They

guided the magazine through

the period in which it became

the largest-circulation

astronomy publication in

the world — larger than the

long-established, conserva-

tive Sky & Telescope; larger

than the Japanese leader,

Tenmon Gaido.

When Berry hired me

in 1982, I brought my

magazine, Deep Sky, now

relaunched as a quarterly,

and joined the Astronomy

staff as the most junior of its

members. In the mid-1980s,

Kalmbach Publishing Co.,

famous for Model Railroader

and Tra i n s magazines, pur-

chased AstroMedia. We left

our building for another part

of town, ramping up for the

appearance of Halley’s

Comet and living

through the

Challenger disaster.

Ever since those

early days, the

magazine has

continued furiously,

and it now boasts

a print circulation

of 100,000, three-

quarters of a million

visitors to our website

each month, and a

social media following

of 1.4 million.

Together, this

comprises the largest

community of

astronomy enthusiasts

on the planet.

We plan to celebrate

this community with you in

this anniversary year. Stay

tuned for some surprises.

I think Steve Walther

would be proud of what the

magazine has become. I

know that I am.

Yo u r s t r u l y,

David J. Eicher

Editor

45 years of

Astronomy

August 1973: The first issue

Follow the Dave’s Universe blog:

http://www.Astronomy.com/davesuniverse

Follow Dave Eicher on Twitter: @deicherstar