MNASSA : Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa

MNASSA : Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa

ISSN: 0024-8266

Published under the auspices of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa.The Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (mnassa) is the official journal of the Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA) and publishes material of interest to professional and amateur astronomers. Research papers are subjected to peer review before publication. MNASSA is indexed in A&A Abstracts and therefore the articles at any level should be of a high standard. MNASSA usually contains items of various kinds: professional scientific astronomical papers (refereed), papers on instrumentation (refereed), papers on historical astronomical matters (refereed), reports of amateur astronomical observations (normally refereed), announcements and reports of conferences, news notes of local and foreign, book reviews, obituaries, items of relevance to the Society and the Southern African astronomical scene.

Publisher	Astronomical Society of Southern Africa (ASSA)
Frequency	Bi-monthly
Coverage	Vol 64 Issue 1 & 2 Feb 2005 - current
Language	English
Journal Status	Active
Collection(s)	Science Technology and Agriculture African Journal Archive

Latest Articles

- Asterisms – the hidden jewels (continued)
  
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  Ever sit at the telescope and wonder which object is next to be adored through dark adapted eyes, perhaps another cluster, globular or nebulae? Well, as one scans the night sky one might find a few stars in a somewhat loose grouping of sorts; somewhat less scattered than the rest of the starry skies. To observe deep sky objects is one thing, but there may be a gem in the sky just waiting to be discovered in exceptionally small star groups or asterisms. Searching for star asterisms is full of fun; inspiring vivid imagination and thoughts. The real beauty lies in the story-telling part of these small groupings with fewer stars than the usual known larger open clusters.
- Colloquia and seminars
  
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  These form an important part of a research facility, often as a sort of pre-publication discussion or a discussion of an individual’s current research, and as such it is virtually impossible to “publish” this material. However by recording the topics discussed in the form below does indicate to those, who are unable to attend, what current trends are and who has visited to do research: it keeps everyone ‘in the loop’ so to speak.
  
  SAAO
  Title: Looking at the Biggest (Binary) Stars with the Smallest Space Telescopes
  Title: Cosmology: Now and Future
  
  UWC
  Title: Probing Dark Energy with the Hydrogen Intensity and Real-time Analysis eXperiment
- Obituary : Michael William Feast 1926-2019
  
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  Michael William Feast died peacefully on the morning of , 1 April 2019, aged 92. He is survived by his wife Connie, three children and eight grand-children.
- News note : SALT science highlight – supersoft x-ray binary system
  
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  A new binary star system has been discovered where a small white dwarf star is cannibalising its larger Sun-like companion. Such objects are actually quite common, but for this new object the white dwarf binged on its neighbour at a prodigious rate, heating part of it to nearly a million degrees. The object, named ASASSN-16oh, was found on 2 December 2016 by the All-Sky Automated Survey for Supernovae (ASASSN), a network of about 20 optical cameras distributed around the globe which automatically surveys the entire sky every night in search of transient events, objects which suddenly appear. ASASSN-16oh was found to be in the Milky Way’s satellite galaxy, the Small Magellanic Cloud, at a distance of ~200 000 light years.
- Planetarium for Sutherland
  
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  For some years now it has become clear that Sutherland is now no longer only an excellent site for an Observatory, but also a tourist attraction. Since its humble beginnings in the early 1970s with 4 telescopes, more and more people visit the growing observatory each year. Since the completion of the Southern African Large Telescope, SALT, Sutherland has become a tourist centre. The observing plateau now has over 20 telescopes and other scientific instruments; a hypersensitive seismometer and a gravimeter.
- News note : founding members sign SKA Observatory Treaty
  
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  Countries involved in the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) Project came together in Rome, Italy on 12 March 2019 for the signature of the international treaty establishing the intergovernmental organisation that will oversee the delivery of the world’s largest radio telescope. Ministers, Ambassadors and other high-level representatives from over 15 countries have gathered in the Italian capital for the signature of the treaty that establishes the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO), the intergovernmental organisation (IGO) tasked with delivering and operating the SKA.

MNASSA : Monthly Notes of the Astronomical Society of South Africa

Latest Articles

Asterisms – the hidden jewels (continued)

Colloquia and seminars

Obituary : Michael William Feast 1926-2019

News note : SALT science highlight – supersoft x-ray binary system

Planetarium for Sutherland

News note : founding members sign SKA Observatory Treaty