Seeing in the Dark : How Backyard Stargazers Are Probing Deep Space and Guarding Earth from Interplanetary Peril

by Timothy Ferris

• ISBN13: 9780684865799
• ISBN10: 0684865793
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2002-08-27
• Publisher: SIMON & SCHUSTER

Summary

Seeing in the Dark is a poetic love letter to the skies and a stirring report on the revolution now sweeping amateur astronomy, in which backyard stargazers linked globally by the Internet are exploring deep space and making discoveries worthy of the professionals. Timothy Ferris invites us all to become stargazers, recounting his lifelong experiences as an enthralled stargazer, and capturing the exquisite experience when ancient starlight strikes the eye and incites the mind. Reporting from around the globe -- from England and Italy to the Florida Keys and the Chilean Andes -- on the revolution that's putting millions in touch with the night sky, Ferris also offers an authoritative and magical description of what is out there to be seen, from the rings of Saturn to remote quasars whose light is older than Earth. Astronomy is the most accessible and democratic of all the sciences: Anyone can get started in it just by going outside with a star chart on a dark night and looking up. A pair of binoculars suffices to see galaxies millions of light-years away, and a small telescope can probe what Ferris calls the "blue waters" of deep space. An accessible, nontechnical invitation to get to know the sky, Seeing in the Dark encourages readers to make the glories of the stars a part of their lives. "The universe," Ferris writes, "is accessible to all, and can inform one's existence with a sense of beauty, reason, and awe as enriching as anything to be found in music, art, or poetry." An appendix includes star charts, observing guides, and tips on how you can get involved with the night sky.

Author Biography

Timothy Ferris, called "the best popular science writer in the English language today" (The Christian Science Monitor) and "the best science writer of his generation" (The Washington Post), is the author of ten books, including the bestsellers The Whole Shebang and Coming of Age in the Milky Way. He has won the American Institute of Physics prize (twice), the American Association for the Advancement of Science prize, and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award. A frequent contributor to The New Yorker, he lives in San Francisco and stargazes from his personal astronomical observatory on Sonoma Mountain in California's wine country. Visit his Web site at www.timothyferris.com.

Table of Contents

Contents

Preface

I:
THE SHORE 

From the Observatory Log:
A Primate at Dusk

1. Beginnings

2. Spaceflight

3. The Ozone

Standing Watch:
A Visit with Mr. White Man

4. Amateurs

How Much Can You See?
A Visit with Stephen James O'Meara

5. Professionals

Picturing the Universe:
A Visit with Jack Newton

6. Rocky Hill

Farsighted:
A Visit with Barbara Wilson

II:
BLUE WATER

7. The Realm of the Sun

Rock Music of the Spheres:
A Talk with Brian May

8. The Morning and Evening Star

Founding Father:
A Visit with Patrick Moore

9. Moon Dance

The Telescope and the Tomb:
A Visit with Percival Lowell

10. Mars

Light at the Edge of Darkness:
A Visit with James Turrell

11. Stones from the Sky

Comet Trails:
A Visit with David Levy

12. Vermin of the Skies

The Camera's Eye:
A Visit with Don Parker

13. Jupiter

Storms on Saturn:
A Visit with Stuart Wilber

14. The Outer Giants

From the Observatory Log:
Chimes at Midnight

III:
THE DEPTHS

15. The Night Sky

Digital Universe:
A Virtual Visit to a Robotic Telescope

16. The Milky Way

Blues Line:
A Visit with John Henry's Ghost

17. Galaxies

Big Science:
A Visit with Edgar O. Smith

18. The Dark Ages

From the Observatory Log:
Minerva at Dawn

APPENDIXES

A. Observing Techniques

B. Notable Periodic Meteor Showers

C. Representative Bright Stars

D. Messier Objects by Season

E. Planets and Their Satellites

F. Further Reading

G. Star Maps

Notes

Glossary

Index