Welcome to the Winter 2008/2009 issue of The Deep-Sky Observer. The winter season for deep-sky observing in the northern hemisphere is now well and truly upon us, with its long, dark nights and the spectacular winter constellations. British observers will be hoping for better weather conditions than they have had for most of 2008.
I hope this issue reaches you before Christmas. We are hoping to get the DSO out more regularly from now on, after a year or so of somewhat sporadic appearance. However, the committee have considered that members might need to be alerted to news about the Society more frequently than is possible in the magazine, and it has been suggested that members may benefit from an email alerts service. If you are interested in this, please send your e-mail address to the Secretary, Steve Rayner, and please do not hesitate to e-mail Bob Argyle, Steve or myself as to what you think of this idea.
This winter lo sees the Webb Society returning to AstroFest, after a year's absence. It is hoped to have on sale at this event a new DVD containing all the back issues of the DSO and also of the Quarterly journal, the Society's earliest journal, which merged with the DSO in 1996. Our sincere thanks are due to Webmaster Tim Walker, who has spent many months on the mammoth task of scanning all the issues of the Society's journals going back to the Society's foundation in 1967. AstroFest, the UK's largest public astronomy exhibition and conference, is due to be held at Kensington Town Hall, London, on Friday 6th and Saturday 7th February 2009. We hope to see as many of you as possible there.
Recently, Magda Streicher was presented with the Webb Society Award for 2006. President Bob Argyle presented it to her personally while on a trip to South Africa earlier this year. One of the Society's most prolific observers, Magda was given the Award for her many contributions to the DSO and her work for the Society in general. Another of Magda's fine observational reports appears in this issue. Congratulations are also due to Owen Brazell, who wins the 2007 Webb Society Award for his many years of work for the Society (including editing the DSO for sixteen years), and to Steve Crouch, who receives the 2007 Graphics Award for his numerous fine images that have been used to illustrate Webb Society publications.
Finally, may I once more make a plea for contributions. More material is needed for DSO 148 and future issues. I am also interested in building up an archive of images of deep-sky objects for use in illustrating articles and other parts of the magazine, including the cover. Articles should be e-mailed in Microsoft Word or Plain Text format. Images can be e-mailed, provided they are less than about 1 Megabyte in size. Larger images should be sent on a CD to my postal address. I look forward to receiving your articles and images. In the meantime, enjoy DSO 147.
Wishing you all clear skies,
Lee Macdonald
Editor
E-mail: lt@macdonald42.freeserve.co.uk