On the cover: Features as small as 3 km are visible in this radar image of Venus. Areas of higher elevation are lighter in color; the tan and white areas are highlands. NASA's Magellan spacecraft mapped over 98 percent of Venus' surface from 1990 to 1994. Write for StarDate Magazine Writer's Guidelines (84K pdf -- free Adobe Acrobat software is required to view the document.)

Also in this issue, we bring you "Shooting the Moon and Stars," from materials scientist M. Susan Barger. She chronicles the mid-19th century mission of astronomers and photographers to convince the public of the usefulness of both expensive modern telescopes and the new Daguerreotype imaging process. These professionals labored together in observatory domes to produce heavenly images.

Barger takes us from the invention of the Daguerreotype, through the arduous attempts to image the Moon using the Great Refractor at Harvard College Observatory, to the awards and accolades those pioneers eventually saw. Finally, she describes the recent revival of this unique imaging process.