Australian Sky & Telescope - June 2018

THE ASTRONOMY SCENE

62 Astrophotography
eXcalibrator freeware helps to
take the guesswork out of colour-
balancing your deep sky images.
By Bob Franke

66 Test report
Meade’s 115-millimetre ED triplet
apochromat packs a lot of bang for
the buck.
By Rod Mollise

72 Astronomer’s workbench
Art Gamble’s simple tracking mount
is easy to build.
By Jerry Oltion

74 NightLife and Astro Calendar
Lots of events and activities for
astronomy enthusiasts.

75 Gallery
Latest images from our readers.

80 Marketplace

81 Indextoadvertisers

82 Focal Point
Astronomy and lasting friendships.
By Con Stoitsis

ON THE COVER

We haven’t seen Mars this well for 15
years. Turn to page 36 for our full Red
Planet 2018 observing guide.

P.

Meade’s marvellous new
115-mm ED apochromat

ALTHOUGH THE AUSTRALIAN GOVERNMENT’Sintention to establish

a national space agency had been announcedafewmonthsago,itwas

nonetheless heartening to see the initiative formalised in the 2018 federal

budget in May (see page 12). With a fairly sizeable initial allocation of

funds (although not as much as many had hoped), the new agency will

have the resources it needs to help set a national direction for Australia’s

space industry and support innovative nascent enterprises and research

teams. Australia already has lots of expertise in space science and

technology, and a number of very successful small space enterprises. The

new agency will help stimulate even more activity and put the nation on

the road to assuming its rightful place amongst spacefaring nations.

At the same time, there are big changes happening in professional optical

astronomy in Australia (see page 14). The famous Australian Astronomical

Observatory (AAO) will see a split between operational activities one the

one hand, and headquarters, R&D and other activities on the other. The

AAO has been a world leader from the time it opened in 1974, with the 3.9-

m AAT and 1.2-m UK Schmidt Telescope punching well above their weight

for longer than many would have thought in an era of telescopes twice their

size. It’s great to see that their future is assured, so that a new generation of

astronomers can capitalise on more than 40 years of successful operations.

Australia’s space

future assured

Jonathan Nally,Editor

[email protected]

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EDITORIAL

EDITOR Jonathan Nally

ART DIRECTOR Lee McLachlan

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

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Ross Gould, Steve Kerr, Alan Plummer,

David Seargent, Con Stoitsis

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