4 AUSTRALIAN SKY & TELESCOPE May | June 2017
REGULARS
5Spectrum
8 News Notes
12 Discoveries
40 Cosmic Relief
71 Book Review
74 Night Life / Astro CalendarFEATURES
14 Curiosity’s discoveries
onMars
AfterfourEarthyearsontheRed
Planet, the intrepid rover has found
evidence of long-gone water and
habitable environments.
By Emily Lakdawalla
22 Amateurs track a
disintegrating exoplanet
As astronomers watch, a distant
worldthatcametooclosetoitsdead
star is being pulled to pieces.
By Mario Motta
28 Spirits of our galaxy’s past
Ephemeral streams of stars are
helping astronomers probe our
galaxy’s dark matter halo, raising
more questions than they answer
abouttheMilkyWayanditspast.
By Monica Young
38 Saturn’s southern apparition
With its rings still tipped invitingly
open, Saturn invites your most
careful scrutiny.
By Alan MacRobert
56 Herschel’s ghosts
With the right small scope, you can
track down these dusty wraiths first
observed in the late 18th century.
By Mel BartelsContents
May | June 2017 ISSUE 101, VOL. 13, NO. 4
P.38 Dust off your scope and observe SaturnOBSERVING & EXPLORING
42 Binocular highlight
Hail Jupiter, king of the planets.
By Matt Wedel
44 Under the stars
The unexpectedly bright stars of Virgo.
By Fred Schaaf
46 Sun, Moon and planets
Venus and Saturn delight tonight.
By Jonathan Nally
47 Meteors
Observing sporadically.
By Con Stoitsis
48 Double star notes
Stars in the sea serpent’s tail.
By Ross Gould
49 Variable stars
Taking the pulse of T Centauri.
By Alan Plummer50 Comets
Will we see an outburst of comet 41P?.
By David Seargent
52 Targets
Deep sky treasures in Leo.
By Sue French
54 Exploring the Moon
The curious case of concentric craters.
By Charles A. WoodP.22 Watching a dying planet