September 2002

Subscribe today and save!
The world's best-selling astronomy magazine offers you the most exciting, visually stunning, and timely coverage of the heavens above. Each monthly issue includes expert science reporting, vivid color photography, complete sky coverage, spot-on observing tips, informative telescope reviews, and much more! All this in an easy-to-understand, user-friendly style that's perfect for astronomers at any level.

Features

The Ice Age Returns

By Richard Talcott

An experimental cooling system installed by spacewalking astronauts has returned Hubble's NICMOS camera to the picture of health.

pg. 30

Beyond Cosmos

By David J. Eicher

Twenty-two years after Carl Sagan's landmark series created billions of new astronomy enthusiasts, our understanding of the cosmos has undergone radical change.

pg. 34

The Artists Behind the Wonder

By Richard J. Bartlett

The creative minds who conceived and executed the visual effects in COSMOS played no small part in that series' tremendous impact.

pg. 40

Using Lasers to Detect E.T.

By Steve Nadis

Radio has long been the method of choice when it comes to searching for extraterrestrials. Now some researchers believe advanced species might communicate with lasers.

pg. 44

Have Scope, Will Travel

By David Healy

For those who desire tack-sharp views from a telescope that's a breeze to transport to a dark-sky site, you won't go wrong with the new Tele Vue 76 refractor.

pg. 66

Celestial Portraits: Horologium, Reticulum, and Caelum

By Tom Polakis

This trio of southern constellations offers a nice variety of distant galaxies for backyard observers with a medium-aperture telescope.

pg. 70

Departments

Behind the Scenes

What's in a Star Party?

Sky Gem

Talking Back

AstroNews

- Opening the New-Planet Floodgates
- Ripples Bolster Cosmic Inflation
- Mars: Wet and Layered
- Starburst Ahead for Milky Way
- Clinching the Supernova Link

Sky Show

The Harvest moon brightens the early-autumn sky.

Astronomy 101

The Savvy Astronomer

Strange Universe

Star Stuff

Products
- AstroZap Dew Shields
Books
- Bad Astronomy: Misconceptions and
Misuses Revealed, from Astrology to the
Moon landing "Hoax"
- Visions of Spaceflight: Images from the
Ordway Collection
- Storms in Space
Bytes
- The Webweaver Picks

Looking Ahead

Advertiser Index

Hot Shots

The Great Galaxy Hunt

Ultimate Exposure

	Sun	Sun	Moon
RISE	—		—	PHASE	—
SET	—		—	DISK	—

	Mercury	Mercury	Venus	Venus
RISE	—		—
SET	—		—
		—		—

	Mars	Mars	Jupiter	Jupiter	Saturn	Saturn
RISE	—		—		—
SET	—		—		—
		—		—		—