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Re: Sky and Telescope magazine



My S&T collection runs unbroken from January, 1963.

From time to time, when I go back through the old issues, I am struck by
what I can only term a "dumbing down" of S&T over the past 10-15 years.
Gone are the days when, for example, we see in-depth, multi-part articles on
specific topics. (A nine-part series on Planetary Nebulae in the late 60s
by Lawrence Aller sticks in my mind as an example of S&T's distinguished
past.) Contributions by working astronomers/astrophysicists seem to be
fewer than they once were, with more of the hack work taken over by staff
writers whose knowledge of topics is good, but still of a secondary nature.

A look at the article titles listed on the cover is also revealing, with
some decidedly tabloid-like titles used as hooks. (I fully expect to see
"Sex Lives of Supernovae," "Is the Universe Accelerating to Oblivion?" or
"Darkest Secrets of Deep Space" on any issue now.)

I am sure that all of this is due, in part, to competition from other
magazines, notably Astronomy, which is also decidedly, er, popular in its
approach, but I also suspect that it's a more gradual survival response to
the shorter attention spans and declining technical inquisitiveness that has
been discussed on this list.

Ok, rant aside, I still do find articles and news of interest, but S&T is
certainly not the first-rate magazine it once was. That's too bad, yet it
may also be that S&T's gradual intellectual decline has also allowed it to
survive.

Cheers,

Mike Smith
Boulder, Colorado