No promises are made about this text. I need to go through and edit it and stuff. I hope to do it in March
Sky &
Telescope: This Is Your Life
Introduction
Sky & Telescope magazine is an institution in the world
of astronomy. Since its birth in 1941 to the present day, it has managed to
retain a high level of quality that has earned a devoted following. The future
of the magazine, like all modern businesses, is wide open, but an exploration
of the past is rich and rewarding.
The Sky
The Sky was the child of two
merged publications. The first was The Amateur Astronomer, a small bulletin
published by the Amateur Astronomers Association in New York City in 1929 (4)
under the editorship of Clement S. Brainan. (16) In 1935, the American Museum
of Natural History, also in New York, combined its own monthly newsletter of
planetarium activities, Monthly Bulletin, with The Amateur Astronomer
and one year later the name was changed to The Sky. In every issue at
least two pages were dedicated to the newly created "The Amateur Astronomy
Association". The combined publication was published in this way until
1939. Its articles and advertisements were focused towards the amateur
astronomer and the lay public. It carried illustrations and writing that was
lively and easily accessible. In the
beginning, the majority of advertisements were for how-to books and supplies
for amateur telescope making along with planetarium supplies and kits. Towards
the end of its run, advertisements were much more varied, including ads for air
travel and watches, reflecting a growing base of readership (and possibly an
unclear view of their audience). The stated goal of the combined publication
was to "...reach increasingly higher levels in the field of popular
astronomy." (5)
It is interesting to note the impact the
Great Depression had on the subjects chosen for coverage in The Sky
during this period. In particular, unexplained events such as the Dust Bowl (a
period of severe drought in the central US farming regions) (1) and the stock
market crash (2) were blamed on the solar cycle and the lack of expected sunspots
in 1936. These same sunspots were also blamed for multiple births and birth
defects in people and animals. (2) It is important to note that at no time did
any of the writers proclaim these statements to be true, however they did
sometimes devote large feature length articles to the subjects. It reflects the
concerns of the society and the lengths people were willing to go to find an
explanation for the horrible times they were suffering through. It also
illustrates the differences between The Sky and The Telescope.
The latter included a brief article on sun spot activity during the same time
which only analyzed the year-by-year sun spot numbers and made a prediction for
the beginning of the next cycle. (3) It was a purely mathematical description
of a cycle, completely ignoring any potential effects on human life. In fact, a
year later in 1937 The Telescope published
an article debunking many of the suggested Solar Cycle-Earth correlations. (7)
In late 1938, it was decided that the
museum could no longer afford the $15,000 subsidy it was paying to publish The
Sky. (59) Charles Federer, who was a Staff Assistant when the first issue
was published four years earlier, was tasked to publish the magazine
independently. With the help of his wife, Helen, who became managing editor, he
trimmed the magazine from 32 to 24 pages and attempted to tighten up the
writing to make as efficient use as possible for the space. (4) During this
time the Federer's began a discussion with the staff of Harvard College Observatory
(HCO), who was looking for someone to take over their own publication, The
Telescope. This conversation began at the 1939 World's Fair where Charles
Federer ran into Shapley and other staff members at HCO while at an organizing
meeting of what is now known as the Amateur Astronomical League. In October
1941 the Federer's were in Massachusetts ready to combine their Sky with
HCO's Telescope.
|
Figure 1:
Leif Robinson (l) and Charles Federer (r) Charles Federer passed away in September
1999 at the age of 90. Until the end he always communicated with The Sky & Telescope editors,
providing feedback even into retirement. Leif Robinson summed up his business
style with this paragraph in a Sky & Telescope obituary: Charlie was not an easy
person to work for, but if you could stand the heat, he taught you a nonpareil work ethic. He
was highly opinionated and had zero tolerance for error. And he had one job
description for everyone: "Do what I tell you
to do and don't ask questions."... It would have been easy to be stifled
by such an authoritarian, except that he had so much to pass along...
Everyday was a broad and fulfilling education, whether you agreed with him or
not. (82) Federer had no formal business plan for
Sky & Telescope, but ran it based on trust of his own judgment.
Many times this trust was validated when he disagreed with his editorial
staff, only to be proven correct, such as with his decision to add color to
every issue. (82) Perhaps one of the best illustrations of the influence of
Federer and Sky & Telescope came in the form of the New York Times
naming his passing as the lead obituary. |
The
Telescope
The
Telescope was a small quarterly magazine first published in 1931 by the
Perkins Observatory in Ohio.(6) It was divided into two Series'.(10) Series I
encompassed eight twelve-page issues published quarterly in 1931 and 1932 by
Perkins Observatory Publications. The content focused on activity at the
observatory such as advances in equipment, student matriculation, etc. Series
II, first issued in July 1933, was irregularly published independently of the
observatory. During this time the editor, Harlan Stetson, moved to
Massachusetts to work for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (15)
Interestingly, the final issue of The Telescope as published by Perkins
Observatory Publications contains no mention of its impending transfer leaving
many questions as to why the editor chose to move to Massachusetts, perhaps due
to the tough economic times of the period, and also suggests that the move may
have been made with little notice.
The Bond Astronomical Club of Harvard
Observatory took over publication and turned it into a bimonthly magazine. It
was a club of "arm chair astronomers...
[who] found Harvard Observatory Public Open Nights too infrequent,"
(12) organized by Harlow Shapley. The first issue published from Massachusetts
was in April 1934 and was considered the third in Series II. It was also the
final issue under the editorship of Stetson. The next issue, in June 1934, was
labeled "Volume 1 No. 4" (10) and announced Loring B. Andrews as the
new editor along with an editorial Board of Regents. The new magazine did not
focus much on the work of HCO at all and instead chose to feature general topics
of astronomy, although in a decidedly academic nature. In the middle of 1937
Loring Andrews moved to England to study "educational radio
broadcasting" (11) and Donald H. Menzel took over as editor, a post he
grudgingly held until the merger with The
Sky, which Shapley approved, at least in part, due to Menzel's threatened
resignation if a new editor for The
Telescope was not found. (58) In fact, Menzel referred to his time as
editor, "as a pain in the neck." (72)
The
Telescope took astronomy much more seriously than The Sky. Most articles were written by professional astronomers, no
doubt possible because of its proximity
to Harvard University. A glimpse at some of the authors that have contributed
to the magazine offers a who's who of famous astronomical figures of the time:
G. P. Kuiper, Fred L. Whipple, Harlow
Shapley, Donald Menzel, Dorrit Hoffleit, Cecilia Payne-Gaposhkin, Annie Jump
Cannon, Leon Campbell, and Martin Schwartzchild. Advertising was restricted to the first few and last pages of the
magazine and was not interspersed with the content. The ads took on a more
professional nature as well with large full-page advertisements taken out by
the manufacturer of large academic telescopes. The content seemed to be aimed
more at amateur astronomers than the general public. However, at the end of
every issue was an enjoyable "Out of Focus" column that usually
included some humorous astronomical anecdote or joke. A particular favorite
paraphrased:
A well-known astronomer
paused on the streets of a busy city to pay ten cents for the privilege of
supposedly looking at Saturn through a telescope. When he discovered, much to
his disgust, that the alleged telescope consisted merely of a hollow tube with
a transparency of Saturn
at the upper end, he reproached the attendant for so shamefully
deceiving the public. The faker at first insisted The Telescope was real. When he realized the patron was a real
astronomer, he laughed and slapping the
critic on his back exclaimed "Oh Well, that's different. _You_
understand that we astronomers have to make a living." (8)
The Sky, Meet The Telescope.
The birth of Sky & Telescope was preceded by a harbinger so appropriate no
Hollywood screenwriter could have conceived anything better. At the end of the
announcement of the merger in the October, 1941 issue of The Sky is this announcement belonging to Mr. and Mrs. Federer:
"A nova appeared at 6:12 a.m., September 22nd, of eight-pounds
magnitude... the managing editor was busy studying the nova, which she named
Barbara Lloyd." (13) A month after that birth the first issue of Sky & Telescope was published.
Sky
& Telescope magazine picked up right where its predecessors left
off. They took the popular astronomy
and illustrative appeal of The Sky
and added to it the advanced material found in The Telescope. The new monthly
magazine was 4 pages larger than The Sky
at 28 pages but did not raise the price per issue. Sky Publishing Corporation
was setup inside Harvard College Observatory and Charles Federer was placed in
charge. Menzel joined a newly minted advisory editorial board which consisted
of editors from both publications along with a few new faces. (14)
1940's
The first issue of Sky & Telescope felt the influence of The Sky more than The Telescope. It included many more
illustrations and a selection of articles aimed at amateurs. Featured in the
issue were the newly proposed bylaws of the Amateur Astronomers League of
America, a report from a meeting of the American Association of Variable Star Observers,
amateur telescope making (ATM) tips, an astronomy quiz, a poem, and news from
various planetariums. Its advertising content was quite varied, including ads
for watches alongside those for The Astrophysical Journal.
The second issue of the magazine saw the
birth of the "News Notes" section. It was a section dedicated to
breaking down news and advances in the world of astronomy into brief
easy-to-understand segments. The section was given to Dorrit Hoffleit, who was
a contributor to The Telescope and
worked at HCO. Almost immediately she was pulled into the war effort and had to
write News Notes from The Aberdeen Proving Ground with the help of local
libraries and Federer, who would loan her journals she could not receive during
the war. News Notes has evolved into one of the most popular sections of Sky & Telescope and took up nine
pages (with advertising) in the June, 2002 issue.
The Second World War heavily influenced
the infant magazine. More editorial space was dedicated to that subject than to
any other single topic. This included editorials on how astronomers can support
the manufacturing effort (putting ATM skills to use in optics and machining),
training (especially on celestial navigation), and on the effect of the war on
amateurs (more observing since equipment is scarce, better seeing due to
blackouts, etc.). The magazine itself was affected by the rising cost of
publication, trouble with mail service, loss of skilled contributors to the
draft, and in communication and infrastructure services. (19) In July, nine
issues after first publication, the magazine was forced to temporarily drop
from 28 to 24 pages. Hoffleit wrote an editorial which illustrated many
examples where German astronomers had honored fellow allied astronomers and
publicly stated that Sky & Telescope
is not a propaganda magazine and that "...no national barriers exist in
astronomy". (42) Throughout the war, subscriptions continued to increase.
(44)
A survey of editorials in the 1940's
revealed the inner thoughts of those running the magazine. The editorials began
with a campaign against astrology, Nostradamus, and other forms of fortune
telling. An editorial of note from the 2nd issue called for the banning of
astrology! (17) In fact, Bart J. Bok, a noted astronomer and frequent
contributor to Sky & Telescope,
wrote a letter at the same time to Eleanor Roosevelt chastising her for her
tacit support of astrology. The letter received a public reaction from the
First Lady who claimed to not take "...any form of fortune telling
seriously." (18) Quickly the editorials focused on World War Two but not
without an occasional reminder about the evils of astrology. (43) Towards the
end of the war the editorials become more diverse in nature covering the deaths
of famous astronomers, solar eclipses, and mixing scientific topics with
amateur developments. Of interest was the first mention of using German V-2
rockets for astronomy (45). Later rocketry would become a major focus of the
magazine.
The distribution of non-editorial columns
in the issues of the 40's provide a good illustration of the content of the
magazine as a whole. There was the aforementioned News Notes alongside The
Observer's Page, Amateur Astronomers, Gleanings for A.T.M's, Planetarium Notes,
and In Focus - a column (at the time) about an astronomical illustration
usually printed on the back (last) page of the magazine. Astronomical
Anecdotes, which was written by Roy K. Marshall of Fels Planetarium in
Philadelphia and first published in The
Sky, ceased publication in 1947.
Advances in astronomy were slowed by the
war but picked up pace in the end of the decade. Among them were completion of
the 200 inch Hale telescope, which had 14 references to it in the magazine in
1948, the year it was completed. The development of radio astronomy was a new
topic. Articles were published on radar astronomy of the moon, listening to
meteor showers via radio, concluding with the publishing in late 1949 of the
first of a series of articles titled "Progress in Radio Astronomy” written
by Otto Struve. (46) Also of note is a three part series on "Cosmological
Implications of the Atomic Bomb” written by Felix Cernuschi. Very few single
events dominated Sky & Telescope
scientifically during the 40's. It was a very diverse magazine with wide
interests.
1950’s
The 1950's was a time of tremendous growth
for the magazine. With the launching of Sputnik and emergence of experiments
above the Earth's atmosphere, there was plenty to cover. The beginning of the
decade saw the merger of another publication, both allied and a competitor,
with Sky & Telescope, leaving it
alone in the industry of popular astronomical publications. This and a strong
economy gave amateurs access to new resources to pursue their hobby. Sky & Telescope reflected this with
growing membership, more content, and editorial changes in the staff. Finally, near the end of the decade Sky & Telescope finally left the
nest of its mother, HCO, and became a fully independent publication.
Scientifically, the 1950's saw many
breakthroughs in new fields, most noteabley in cosmology, particle physics, and
radio astronomy. The big cosmological debate of the 1950's began with the
popularization of the "Big Bang" term and its competition with the
Steady State theory. This is one area, however, that Sky & Telescope did not devote much coverage to. No feature
length article or editorial was dedicated to cosmology. Rather it was only
mentioned in brief in the "American Astronomer's Report" column. This
is in stark contract to modern day issues that frequently feature cosmology as
the cover story. In particle physics, the neutrino was discovered in 1956, but
no mention was found in Sky &
Telescope. In radio astronomy,
features were published on the discovery of 21-centimeter neutral hydrogen
radiation (49), radio astronomy of the Earth's atmosphere, new radio telescope
technology such as interferometry, and much more. The end of the decade saw the
first articles about SETI in three articles and a letter all by Frank Drake
about radio detection of other planetary systems and home-built astronomical
radio receivers all published in 1959-1960.
Most of their science features were on eclipses, comets, aurorae and
other events amateurs can participate in directly.
A major event in the 1950's, *the* major
event for some, was the launch of Sputnik and the beginning of the "Space
Race" in 1957. Sky & Telescope
immediately dedicated a feature to the event in the November 1957 issue. (52)
The article ignored the political implications and focused on the satellite
itself (interestingly referred to numerously as a "moonlet") and
quoted Soviet publications when describing its launching mechanisms. Shortly
thereafter, they began including Moonwatch Bulletins with its publications. The
Moonwatch was a group of teams organized by the Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory to monitor satellites as they pass overhead. This information was
used by the SAO to compute orbits and calculate other information about the
satellites. The magazine followed both alerts and observer reports. After
Sputnik 1, future coverage of satellites was in the form of Smithsonian
Astrophysical Observatory Bulletin For Visual Observers of Satellites
(Moonwatch bulletins) (53) and editorials.
Editorial and advertising content
reflected the times. Editorial content of the magazine began to be dominated by
the prospects and challenges of space exploration. Editorials were written
extensively about satellite launches and tracking, artificial meteors,
balloon-based instruments, rocket altitude records, and more. The establishment of the National Science
Foundation as a major contributor to astronomy called for 2 lengthy editorials
in 1953 (50) and 1954 (51) explaining the need and structure of the
organization. Advertising began to take a bigger role in the publication with
the addition of many full-page ads and the proliferation of advertisements for
telescopes, predominantly refractors. The back page illustration was replaced
by a full-page ad in 1953.
Ads for
telescopes by an importer of Japanese telescopes called Unitron were so
numerous that some readers referred to Sky
& Telescope as "Sky & Unitron". (60)
The staff of Sky & Telescope reached 12 in 1954 (54) with half in
fulfillment and half in the editorial staff. Federer continued to run the
magazine and Joseph Ashbrook was hired as a Technical Editor to replace Mrs.
Federer who resigned as Managing Editor in 1956. (58) An interesting
relationship was formed between Sky &
Telescope and HCO when Donald Menzel was named Director of HCO in 1954.
Menzel was known as a single-minded man of strong opinions. In 1953 he forced
the AAVSO out of the HCO and appropriated nearly the entire AAVSO endowment
fund. He held considerable influence
over Federer. Federer himself said, "I watched what I said." when
asked how he managed to survive Menzel's purge. Dorrit Hoffleit, who was not in Menzel's favor after turning down
an offer to work for him, believes it was Federer's wish to not anger Menzel
that caused him to terminate her volunteer work as author of News Notes. (56)
This worked, for in the same year Menzel wrote a letter to the Harvard provost
supporting Sky & Telescope's
presence at HCO.
This, however, could not prevent the
eventual separation of Sky Publishing from Harvard College Observatory. Sky
Publishing was a for profit enterprise residing rent free at HCO. This cause some concern for university
management. (55) Federer may have had a wish to be independent of Menzel. In a
retrospective published in 1978, then managing editor William Shawcross said,
"Here we are free from outside pressures..."(69) when referring to
the location away from Harvard. While Harvard never officially requested that
Sky Publishing leave the premises, growing pains forced the issue. In 1956, the
fulfillment department had already been moved out of HCO and the editorial
staff was transferred to another building at Harvard. Federer lamented the
crowded conditions (54) and found the funds the buy a lot of land about a mile
away from HCO. By 1959 three buildings had been built or purchased around that
lot of land on Bay State Road and Sky
& Telescope officially moved all its operations away from HCO.
|
Popular Astronomy Ceases Publication In March 1882 William W. Payne,
director of the Goodsell Observatory at Carleton College, first published a
small periodical called Sidereal Messenger. The name was later changed
to Astronomy & Astrophysics (57) but that publication quickly grew
too large and in the early 1890's it was split into two publications: Astrophysical Journal edited by
George Hale and Popular Astronomy, still edited by Payne with the
intent to "...bring the scholars and the popular readers of astronomy
nearer together in common interest." (47) Popular Astronomy was a
much more scientific publication than Sky
& Telescope and was printed in a booklet form with many small pages
and few illustrations. Relations between Sky
& Telescope and Popular Astronomy were good; Sky & Telescope even recommended Popular Astronomy to
its readers (57) and routinely carried summaries of articles from Popular
Astronomy. In June 1951 the current editor, Herbert
C. Wilson, passed away and Carleton College decided it did not have the
finances to continue publication. An
agreement was reached with Sky &
Telescope to attempt to find a new home at another astronomical
institution. If that failed, then Sky
& Telescope would fulfill Popular Astronomy's obligations to
subscribers. After many months of effort, Sky
& Telescope announced that it could not find financial backing for Popular
Astronomy and was assuming Popular Astronomy's subscriber base and
would "...attempt to include certain features of Popular Astronomy in
our pages from time to time." (48)
|
Without the drama of Sputnik or the
relocation of Sky Publishing, the 1960's are noted more for small steps of
progress rather than a few momentous events. The July, 1960 issue saw the first
article published by Leif Robinson, then of the Los Angeles Astronomical
Society and the future editor of Sky
& Telescope for 20 years. (61) Also in 1960 Sky & Telescope began dividing its year into two volumes. News
Notes continued throughout the 1960's, as did Gleanings for ATM's, Amateur
Astronomers, and The Observer's Page. A relatively new column, Observing the Satellites,
was discontinued and Planetarium Notes was published annually as a separate
pamphlet. A new column, Rambling Through the Skies, began in 1962 and continues
to run today. The Moonwatch program
scored an unique success in May, 1960 when pieces of a failed Soviet satellite
(Sputnik 4) were recovered and returned to Smithsonian Astrophysical
Observatory for testing. Moonwatch discovered the pieces in part due to careful
tracking. (63)
Internally, the 1960's saw the
computerization of fulfillment and the emergence of color in the magazine. The
first colored pages began to appear in 1962 when color was added to the
advertisement on the back page. (62) In 1963 full page ads were printed in
color inside the magazine as well and later that year the front page
photographs began to be printed in color. Questar began publishing full-page
ads on the back of the front cover in the latter half of the decade. In 1969
the magazine more than doubled in size from 28 to 68 pages! Most of this new
space was taken up by advertising, although the number of scientific feature
articles also increased. Computers made their first major appearance in 1969
when subscription fulfillment (mailing) began to be automated and domestic
subscribers began to receive their issues without an envelope. (65) Billing was
also automated, requiring the introduction of the billing (subscription) cards
we now know so well.
1960’s
In the 1960's, Sky & Telescope began covering a more wide variety of
scientific stories. Otto Struve wrote most of these features until he passed
away in 1963. The editorials also became more scientific in nature, usually
taking an astronomic concept (such as the Astronomical Unit) and explaining it
in easy-to-understand language. The continued advances in non-optical astronomy
provided plenty of fodder for features on subjects like helium and hydrogen
radio detection, galactic x-ray surveys, ultraviolet astronomy from spacecraft,
and more. Neutrino articles also began popping up with heavy emphasis on solar neutrino
studies. Near the end of 1969 the first article appeared about the scientific
results gained from the lunar missions. (64)
The magazine continued to expand and
reached 96 pages by the late 1970's when Sky Publishing was purchasing almost a
million pounds of paper per year. (70) Advertising expanded with the new larger
format and the more liberal use of color. Questar dominated the prime real
estate on the back of the cover for most of the 60's and the beginning of the
70's. In January 1973, a company called Celestron began buying the back page
ads and continued to hold them throughout the decade. A year earlier Meade
Instruments was founded and began taking 2"x4" advertisements in Sky & Telescope as its sole form of
marketing. The fact that Meade is the industry leader today reflects some of
the influence Sky & Telescope has
had on the market.
The content in the 70's was similar to
content in the late 60's. Predictably, feature articles in the 70's reflected a
new interest in planetary science thanks in part to the information transmitted
from interplanetary probes. Mars in particular was in demand in 1971 with
articles on Mars photography, dust storms, the Mariner flights, maps of Mars,
and more. Towards the end of the decade interest traveled further out of the
solar system with special emphasis on Viking's encounter with Saturn in various
1979 issues. An interesting article of note was a letter from Lt. Roger W.
Sinnott about amateur astronomy in South Vietnam in 1971. [66] Sinnott would
later become a longtime staff member. All of the major columns continued to run
in the 1970's. A new intermittent
column was added called Astronomical Scrapbook, which explained unique
astronomical items, usually historical in nature.
1970’s
In the 70's, the magazine changed from a
printer in Hanover, New Hampshire to one in Connecticut to another one in
Burlington, Vermont by 1979. They also expanded their computerized order
processing to include non-magazine publications such as books and atlases. Sinnott
in particular was a key player in developing new computer technology to
"...replace century old technology." (71) Also in that year Sky
Publishing more than doubled their facilities by adding 4,700 square feet of
space to the warehouse. (67)
In 1975 a major shift in editorial
management occurred. Charles Federer
retired and was replaced by Joseph Ashbrook. Ashbrook was hired in 1953 as a
full-time employee and research assistant at HCO. Born with a slight speech
defect, he shied away from both public lecturing and his job teaching at Yale.
Annie Jump Cannon introduced Ashbrook to Federer, who was impressed by his
knowledge of astronomy, ability to work with amateurs, and "journalistic
flair." (74) Ashbrook excelled at Sky
& Telescope and was promoted to technical editor in 1956 and to editor
in 1964. The transition took place between the December, 1974 and January, 1975
issue and interestingly no mention was made in either publication. This may be
representative of the magazine's view of itself as a simple astronomical
magazine first and foremost. Whereas later transitions of editorial leadership
would be well covered by the magazine. Its internal operations will become more
transparent in general as Sky &
Telescope rapidly became an institution in of itself with its readers very
interested in the life of the magazine and its employees.
|
Astronomy Emerges as Stiff Competition A significant event of the 1970s for Sky & Telescope as a business was
the emergence of a new competitor, Astronomy magazine. In 1973,
Stephen Walther founded the magazine in Milwaukee, Wisconsin with the
financial support of his brother, David, a prominent attorney. Astromedia
Corporation was formed as the parent company of Astronomy and later published
Odyssey, a children's magazine, and Telescope Making, a
niche-market quarterly. Astronomy was aimed at the "...beginning
to mid-level amateur" according to Robert Schmall, Astronomy's
first Advertising Manager. (41) In the late 70's Stephen Walther passed away
and Richard Berry was named editor. Berry sought to give The Telescope more scientific credibility and removed articles on
UFOs and other forms of pseudo-science. In 1985, Kalmbach Publishing
purchased Astromedia Corporation. Kalmbach was a publisher of model train and
other hobby magazines and was riding the tide of the emerging antique model
industry. With no interest in supporting unprofitable magazines, Kalmbach
soon closed Odyssey and Telescope Making. Richard Berry left in
the early 90's, reportedly because he doubted Kalmbach's commitment to the
hobby, and was replaced by Robert Burnham and then Bonnie Gordon. |
1980’s
The 1980's were characterized by a rapid
change in editorial leadership and maturation of the magazine as a product and
in circulation. At the beginning of the decade the magazine was 96 pages long
and a mixture of color and black and white pages. By the end of the decade it
would sport a new logo, full color, and average over 120 pages with a
circulation of over 100,000. (73)
The decade began in tumult for Sky & Telescope. Editor Joseph
Ashbrook passed away August 1980 at the age of 62. (75) He was succeeded by
Leif Robinson, who had been with the magazine since 1962. Robinson was in part
brought to Sky & Telescope
through his correspondence with Federer as a teenager in the 1950's. (75)
Ashbrook's reign was the shortest of any editor in chief, but he certainly had
a significant impact on the magazine during his 24 years employed there. He
focused on data reduction and worked with forming and sustaining ties with
amateur observing organizations while Federer focused on the ATM organizations.
(74)
A major event occurred in 1986 when the
Challenger exploded. Interestingly, Sky & Telescope did not devote a
single article to this event. A survey
of issues 1 year after the incident found only a a 3 paragraph mention in the
March News Notes column.(81) This is surprising given the intense coverage
space exploration has received both before and since 1986. Robinson commented
in 1990 that Sky & Telescope's
editorial integrity was compromised while it was part of HCO due to conflicts
of interest. (76) One must wonder if something similar occurred in 1986.
Perhaps Sky Publishing did not want to irritate relationships with NASA
employees who were probably (and quite understandably) under immense stress at
the time.
Supernova 1987A was focused on with quite
a bit coverage, as was the return of comet Halley, which received coverage in
almost every issue in 1986 through numerous features and a temporary monthly
column called "Halley Notebook".
In fact, supernova 1987A remains as Sky
& Telescope's current editor Richard Feinberg's most favorable
astronomical story during his time at Sky
& Telescope. He said of it, "...it was sure fun to live through SN1987A,
from the detection of the neutrino pulse through the appearance of the
remarkable three-ring nebula."(79)
Columns continue to grow and mature. News
Notes was still the home of recent astronomical research summaries. Amateur
observing was covered well including the Gleanings for ATMs column and an
increasing number of articles and reviews on equipment. The
"Rambling..." column continued and a new column on observing came
from Walter Scott Houston, who was becoming famous for his passionate writing
style. Pop culture was covered beginning with articles on the phenomenon caused
by Carl Sagan's Cosmos series in 1980. In general, Sky & Telescope continued to cover things in the same fashion
as before, although with increased content due to larger page numbers. In fact,
Feinberg added that the differences between Sky
& Telescope of decades ago and the current magazine is "skin
deep", (79) referring to cosmetic changes, number of pages, etc.
1990’s
At the beginning of the 90's Sky & Telescope was facing stiff
competition from Astronomy magazine. Astronomy had surpassed Sky & Telescope in circulation
almost a decade earlier. (41) This was mainly because Astronomy catered
to a less advanced market and had better eye catching layout design. In January,
1991 Sky & Telescope revealed a
new logo and overall look for the magazine.
This new logo was designed in part to help Sky & Telescope stand out while in competition on news stands.
(78) The people at Astronomy magazine respected Sky & Telescope and did not consider them serious competition
at the time because the two catered to a difference audience, Astronomy
to the novice amateur and Sky &
Telescope to the advanced amateur.
However, Sky & Telescope
began a concerted effort to expand content so it would appeal to amateurs of
all skill levels. Additionally, in 1997 a major visual redesign of the magazine
was accomplished. (82) All of these changes were successful and by 2000 Sky & Telescope had almost doubled
its circulation and size to 132,000 readers and an average of 170 color
pages. (80)
The decade was not without its missteps,
however. In 1994, Sky Publishing began a new quarterly magazine, CCD
Astronomy. This new magazine was focused on the merging technology of CCD
imaging, which was just beginning to make serious in roads in amateur
astronomy. CCDs allow amateurs to take professional quality data and images,
thus opening up an entirely new set of observing projects while introducing
amateurs to the exacting world of professional standards. It was thought that
there was enough potential to justify a niche magazine. However, after almost 3 years (Spring, 1994
- Winter, 1997) the magazine was discontinued, with many of its features placed
in Sky & Telescope magazine. It
is interesting to note that Astronomy magazine tried something similar almost a
decade earlier with a magazine dedicated to amateur telescope making, with the
same results.
The astronomical content of the magazine
widened in the 1990's becoming both more eclectic and advanced at the same
time. Popular new columns were added devoted to space exploration updates, deep
sky observing, equipment reviews, astronomical software, Internet astronomical
resources, mythological history behind astronomical nomenclature, and more. In
addition, News Notes has continued as has "Rambling Through the
Skies" and a revamped "Observer's Notebook". Increasing focus
has been placed on amateur equipment, News Notes, and observing columns. A star
map for the southern sky was also added reflecting the worldwide growth of the
magazine's subscriber base. In addition to the columns aimed at observers, more
features have been written about cutting edge science. Articles about
relativity and cosmology contributed by some of the giants in the industry
frequently receive front-page treatment. In general, the content was becoming
more interdisciplinary and at the same time more advanced.
The Internet has had a profound influence
on Sky & Telescope. Beginning in
1995, a major web site was developed to give Sky & Telescope readers more resources. It included back issues
of CCD Astronomy, news updated weekly, and other items of interest not
available via the magazine itself. The Internet created demand for a monthly
column about online and vastly increased the amount of information staff must
sift through on a monthly basis. (79) It also has created some new competition,
although at a different level, since amateurs can now get much information
online that used to be only available via a magazine like Sky & Telescope.
Finally, at the end of the decade Leif
Robinson retired as the 3rd editor-in-chief of Sky & Telescope, a post he held for 20 years. Rick Feinberg was
hired to replace him beginning on Jan 1, 2001. Feinberg joined Sky & Telescope in 1986 after
earning a PhD in astronomy from Harvard. (80) He quickly rose through the ranks
and was named President of Sky Publishing in 1991. As Feinberg put it,
"...I have degrees in physics and astronomy, not business
administration." (81) So he gladly
resigned as president and took over for Robinson.
The Future
The future of Sky & Telescope is anyone's guess. Challenges they face include
aggressive competition from Astronomy, rising production costs, and perhaps the
biggest threat of all - that of corporate mergers and takeovers. In this world of mega media conglomerates a
company that is independent suffers from serious disadvantages in terms of
economies of scale and cross-promotion. Can Sky Publishing remain independent?
If not, can it exist within a parent corporation with the same independence
that has made it successful in the past?
Not all the news is bad, though. The
Internet has empowered amateur astronomers to pursue new projects and
challenged them enough to keep their interest in the hobby. Dropping technology
prices and rising income (in the Western world at least) has increased the
purchasing power of amateur astronomers. Along with this has come the ability
to write more advanced scientific articles for their readers. In addition, globalization
has opened up new markets to Sky &
Telescope. Also, Sky & Telescope
still has the respect of the professional community, many of whom read it to
keep up on other fields in astronomy. Kevin Marvel, Deputy Director of the
American Astronomical Society said that "Professionals regularly read
S&T. They like to see themselves
quoted in the magazine and enjoy seeing their colleagues results explained for
the general public. [Sky & Telescope] presents very
recent results in a way that the non-professional can easily understand."
This can be seen in almost any issue of Sky Telescope by finding feature
articles written by experts in the field being covered. Finally, Sky & Telescope has an extremely
loyal readership, with over a quarter of all readers holding subscriptions of
20 years or more, (85) a statistic almost unheard of in the industry.
Conclusion
Sky
& Telescope has come a long way since 1941. From humble beginnings it
managed to attain a high quality of writing and a wide coverage of both amateur
and professional astronomy. It has also managed to sustain this quality for
decades through changes in editorial leadership and normal business pressures.
The future of the magazine is unknown, but there is much to be excited about in
the present.
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Appendix I:
Larger Copies of Figures
Appendix II:
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