Many Skies

by Upgren, Arthur

• ISBN13: 9780813535128
• ISBN10: 0813535123
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-01-20
• Publisher: Rutgers Univ Pr

Summary

Assesses the changes in science, theologies, astrologies, and methods of tracking time that alternative solar, stellar, and galactic arrangements would have brought about and examines the various ways in which such human interference as light pollution are changing the night sky.

Author Biography

Arthur Upgren is an emeritus professor of astronomy at Wesleyan University and a senior research scientist at Yale University

Table of Contents

Introduction	1	(6)
I. THE SUN AND THE MOON
1. Our Three Moons	7	(11)
2. Within a Triple Star	18	(17)
3. Our Backward Stellar Magnitude System	35	(4)
4. An Improper Proper Motion	39	(6)
5. All Our Yesterdays	45	(7)
6. We Are Alone	52	(15)
II. THE PLANETS
7. The Rings of Earth	67	(6)
8. Next Door to a Giant	73	(9)
9. Double Planet	82	(6)
10. Debris in the Solar System	88	(9)
11. Seasons of Paradox	97	(6)
12. More Than One Pluto	103	(8)
III. THE STARS
13. What If the Sun Were Red? or Blue?	111	(6)
14. The Vernal Equinox Lies in Virgo	117	(8)
15. Vega and Deneb Change Places	125	(4)
16. The Pleiades Star Cluster Is as Close as the Hyades	129	(5)
17. The Great Popcorn Balls	134	(7)
18. The Milky Way Lies along Our Equator	141	(6)
19. We Are Alone II	147	(8)
IV. HOMEMADE SKIES
20. Ring of Rubbish	155	(4)
21. The Tangled Skein of Celestial Mechanics	159	(3)
22. A Second Chance	162	(13)
23. Chicxulub, the Worst Sky of All	175	(12)
Personal Note	187	(2)
Bibliography	189	(2)
Index	191