RASC members and all Canadians are justifiably proud of the The Journal of the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada. It boasts an illustrious history of unbroken print publication since 1907. Macleans saw its start in 1905 but had to go from a weekly to a monthly in 2017. The Economist is still a weekly publication since 1843 but Time and Newsweek are no more. Perhaps the closest rival would be the venerable Scientific American, which has faithfully reported science news as a monthly since 1845.

I don’t think there exists anywhere else such a unique periodical that is part professional scientific journal, part treatise and resource for amateur astronomers and part historical record of the nation’s astronomical endeavours.

Compared to all my predecessors, my route has been highly unconventional. I’m a biochemist as well as a clinically active dentist with a 35 year career behind me. But I am also the author of several refereed scientific papers, a book on astrophotography, and freelance magazine articles. I’ve spoken on telescope building at North York Astronomical Association’s Starfest twice, appeared in Sky & Telescope twice and used to write the column Cosmic Contemplations in JRASC a decade ago. Modern science requires a measure of unprecedented interdisciplinary cooperation and I hope to bring a refreshingly different approach to this position.

Even though we enjoy the benefit of the support of over 5000 members from coast to coast to coast, the dangers universal to all print publications continue to exist. I want to improve advertising revenue to the Journal and also make the content ever more relevant to all members at all levels of astronomical sophistication.

I am enthusiastic at working with the extremely talented group of writers and production staff, many having a long JRASC association.

Editorial Team

Editor-in-Chief: Jim Chung

Associate Editor: Michael Attas
Production Manager: James Edgar

Assistant Editors:

• Michael Allen
• Dave Chapman
• Ralph Chou
• Ralph Croning
• Patrick Kelly

Columnists:

• Jay Anderson (News Notes)
• Pamela Freeman (Dish on the Cosmos)
• Nicole Jiang (What’s Up in the Sky?)
• Samantha Lawler (Keep Calm and Orbit On!)
• David Levy (Skyward)
• Blair MacDonald (Imager's Corner)
• Curt Nason (Astrocryptic)
• John Percy (John Percy's Universe)
• Randall Rosenfeld (Art & Artifact)

Proofreaders:

• Michael Attas
• Margaret Brons
• Angelika Hackett
• Michelle Johns
• Barry Jowett
• Alida MacLeod