David Levy moving to Astronomy

From the latest (Jan 2nd, 2009) "Astronomy" magazine news letter: "In
January 2009 world-renowned amateur astronomer and comet discoverer David H.
Levy joins Astronomy magazine as a Contributing Editor. Levy will write a
monthly column.."



First Stephen James O'Meara 'jumped ship' from S&T and moved to Astronomy
and now Levy. What's happening here?



George N

On Jan 3, 9:56*am, "George Normandin"
wrote:
From the latest (Jan 2nd, 2009) "Astronomy" magazine news letter: "In
January 2009 world-renowned amateur astronomer and comet discoverer David H.
Levy joins Astronomy magazine as a Contributing Editor. Levy will write a
monthly column.."

First Stephen James O'Meara 'jumped ship' from S&T and moved to Astronomy
and now Levy. What's happening here?

George N

People move around all the time. This is nothing new. Also, I
understand David will continue to contribute to S&T.

On 3 Éáí, 17:56, "George Normandin" wrote:
From the latest (Jan 2nd, 2009) "Astronomy" magazine news letter: "In
January 2009 world-renowned amateur astronomer and comet discoverer David H.
Levy joins Astronomy magazine as a Contributing Editor. Levy will write a
monthly column.."

First Stephen James O'Meara 'jumped ship' from S&T and moved to Astronomy
and now Levy. What's happening here?

George N

I was told about this development over two weeks ago and which also
surprised me given the recent developments at S&T (O'Meara, Fienberg
and now Levy).

With a new Editor-in-Chief at S&T, perhaps a new team is being
assembled.

Anthony.

Anthony Ayiomamitis wrote in
:

On 3 Éáí, 17:56, "George Normandin" wrote:
From the latest (Jan 2nd, 2009) "Astronomy" magazine news letter: "In
January 2009 world-renowned amateur astronomer and comet discoverer
David
H.
Levy joins Astronomy magazine as a Contributing Editor. Levy will
write a monthly column.."

First Stephen James O'Meara 'jumped ship' from S&T and moved to
Astronomy and now Levy. What's happening here?

George N

I was told about this development over two weeks ago and which also
surprised me given the recent developments at S&T (O'Meara, Fienberg
and now Levy).

With a new Editor-in-Chief at S&T, perhaps a new team is being
assembled.

Anthony.



The magazines are doomed. They've failed to make the transition to the
net. In 10 years, the only magazines left will be women's fashion an
scandal sheets.

The magazines are doomed. They've failed to make the transition to the
net. In 10 years, the only magazines left will be women's fashion an
scandal sheets.

A home theater magazine that I subscribed to for several years abandoned
print to go web-only. I rarely visit the website. Does anybody? From my
standpoint, they may as well have simply folded.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California
33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W

"Curtis Croulet" wrote in
:

The magazines are doomed. They've failed to make the transition to
the net. In 10 years, the only magazines left will be women's
fashion an scandal sheets.

A home theater magazine that I subscribed to for several years
abandoned print to go web-only. I rarely visit the website. Does
anybody? From my standpoint, they may as well have simply folded.

Which magazine? I used to follow a few of them.

Which magazine? I used to follow a few of them.

"Ulimate A/V," previously known as "Stereophile Guide to Home Theater." To
finish out my uncompleted subscription, they turned me over to "Home
Theater," which I don't like nearly as much. I still get it, but every time
the renewal comes up, I think a long time about whether I want to keep it.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California
33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W

With a new Editor-in-Chief at S&T, perhaps a new team is being
assembled.

I had a long chat with S&T's new editor, Bob Naeye, at the Pacific Astronomy
and Telescope Show in September. I told him that this past summer was the
first time in almost 50 years that I considered not renewing my
subscription. I felt that S&T had become too much like Astronomy. Whatever
the merits of Astronomy or lack thereof, there's no point in my getting two
versions of the same magazine. Bob told me to expect some forthcoming
changes to S&T. There'll be more on astrophotography in the magazine
(techniques & equipment, not pictures), and more of the main articles will
be written by scientists rather than editors. However, he denied that the
magazine has been "dumbed down" in recent years. His editorial in the Feb
'09 issue conforms to this view.

The decline of advertising revenue is a serious issue. Meade in their
heyday bought, I think, 10 pages or something like that. At one time, there
was essentially a complete Meade catalog in the magazine. Not now. So
there are fewer pages in the magazine than a couple of years ago, though
still many more than the typical issue of the 1960s. I was told, however,
that circulation has actually increased a bit.

I also complained about the books & pubs offered by S&T. Sky Publishing
(their old name) was a one-stop source for a large variety of star atlases
and observing guides. Most of that is gone. Bob said New Track Media
considered themselves to have bought a magazine, not a book publisher. The
staff at S&T is far smaller than it used to be. However, they may restart
the book side of the business.

Earlier in the show, before I had the chance to talk to Naeye, I was
chatting with another S&T staffer, and an astronomy author everybody here
would recognize came up and said that he didn't like either magazine and
doesn't subscribe to them, even though he writes articles for both. I
wasn't sure what his complaint was. I was complaining that things had been,
well, "dumbed down," but he was standing beside me and complaining that some
articles were too technical, with too many unexplained acronyms.

BTW, Naeye is pronounced "noy-uh" (starts like "noise"), not "nye" or some
variant of that. He says the name is Flemish.

I know nothing about the status of David Levy with S&T -- whether he's
moving totally to Astronomy or doing both mags. I see him annually at the
Starry Nights Festival in Yucca Valley, and he said nothing about it this
last time. But I suppose he would not have been at liberty to say anything
at the time.
--
Curtis Croulet
Temecula, California
33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W

On Jan 4, 3:06 am, "Curtis Croulet"
wrote:
With a new Editor-in-Chief at S&T, perhaps a new team is being
assembled.

I had a long chat with S&T's new editor, Bob Naeye, at the Pacific Astronomy
and Telescope Show in September. I told him that this past summer was the
first time in almost 50 years that I considered not renewing my
subscription. I felt that S&T had become too much like Astronomy. Whatever
the merits of Astronomy or lack thereof, there's no point in my getting two
versions of the same magazine.

I let both subscriptions lapse a few years ago. I had been an S&T
subscriber for decades. Somehow both mags had managed to take a
fascinating subject and find a way to make it boring.

On Jan 4, 2:06 am, "Curtis Croulet"
wrote:

I had a long chat with S&T's new editor, Bob Naeye, at the Pacific Astronomy
and Telescope Show in September. I told him that this past summer was the
first time in almost 50 years that I considered not renewing my
subscription. I felt that S&T had become too much like Astronomy. Whatever
the merits of Astronomy or lack thereof, there's no point in my getting two
versions of the same magazine. Bob told me to expect some forthcoming
changes to S&T. There'll be more on astrophotography in the magazine
(techniques & equipment, not pictures), and more of the main articles will
be written by scientists rather than editors. However, he denied that the
magazine has been "dumbed down" in recent years. His editorial in the Feb
'09 issue conforms to this view.


After reading Naeye's editorial I got as far as typing up nasty
letter, putting it in an envelope and putting a stamp on. I may mail
the letter, but I doubt this fool will care whether a 44 year
subscriber continues his subscription or not. I have 44 years bound
Sky and Telescope's on my bookshelf and I often refer to them,
particularly the Deep Sky Wonders and Telescope Making articles. It is
very clear that Seronik has dumbed down the telescope making section
compared to Bob Cox. Indeed Seronik has done more harm than good.
Saying that nobody builds their own scopes any more is foolish as a
quick search on the web will prove. Seronik's job is to encourage to
make people feel that it is impossible. Sue French has been able to
salvage Deep Sky Wonders, but I'm afraid she won't be around along. As
far as more astrophotography: I wonder just how many people can afford
a $1300 CCD camera and a $1500 mount (Orion prices) to make a 8 hour
exposure at an increasing rare dark site two hours from home . Looks
like Sky and Telescope is going to die off.