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In article <93010946@sloth.bc.ca> chris@sloth.bc.ca (Chris Brougham) writes:
>I saw an add in S&T for an organization called the "Planetary Society."
>What's this organization all about? are there any members that
>can give me a brief summation of the organizations "mandate?"

It's officially in the business of promoting planetary exploration.  It
does have some tendency to take Carl Sagan's slant on just how that should
be done, since he's the society's President For Life :-).  It supplies some
of the private funding currently supporting work in areas like SETI and
looking for near-Earth asteroids.  It's also been involved in supporting
US hardware for the 1994/1996 Russian Mars probes.

>Apparently the publish a magazine called that "Planetary Report,"
>is this magazine monthly or quarterly and is its format like S&T 
>or a scholalry journal?

Like S&T, not like a journal.  It was bimonthly when I was a member,
although that was a while ago.  It's a great source of glossy photos
and a moderately good source of recent news in the area.  Technical
content is minor, scholarly content is nil.

In general, the Planetary Society does some good work but has politics
that grate on some people (like me).  It's worth trying out.  There are
other organizations that are more heavily into good work and less heavily
into glossy magazines and the Pasadena Party Line, but joining even the
Planetary Society is lots better than doing nothing.
-- 
"God willing... we shall return."       | Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
       -Gene Cernan, the Moon, Dec 1972 |  henry@zoo.toronto.edu  utzoo!henry

In article <C0MAG7.A7K@zoo.toronto.edu> henry@zoo.toronto.edu (Henry Spencer) writes:
>In article <93010946@sloth.bc.ca> chris@sloth.bc.ca (Chris Brougham) writes:
>>I saw an add in S&T for an organization called the "Planetary Society."
>>What's this organization all about? are there any members that
>>can give me a brief summation of the organizations "mandate?"
>
>It's officially in the business of promoting planetary exploration.  It
>does have some tendency to take Carl Sagan's slant on just how that should
>be done, since he's the society's President For Life :-).  It supplies some
>of the private funding currently supporting work in areas like SETI and
>looking for near-Earth asteroids.  It's also been involved in supporting
>US hardware for the 1994/1996 Russian Mars probes.
>
>>Apparently the publish a magazine called that "Planetary Report,"
>>is this magazine monthly or quarterly and is its format like S&T 
>>or a scholalry journal?
>

	This is their bimonthly publication which is now published
	on recylced paper.  It does have good photographs, but I
	think that he photographs in S&T are better.  The Planetary
	Report emphasizes explanations of current space events to
	the lay person.  The articles are written by JPL scientists
	who are involved in the project.  They are easily 
	undestandable by nonexperts in the field.  When situation
	warrants, Sagan will himself write an article in his
	usual style.

	It also has a lot of space merchandise at reasonable prices.
	These include videos, posters and t-shirts.  It also gives
	people the opportunity to start up groups in their own 
	region and to organize events, they will supply the 
	materials that are necessary.  If requested a speaker can
	come to your area.

	I recommend joining them - they are a very interesting group!

_________________

Dr. H. S. Murty
National Research Council of Canada