Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History

Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History Duncan Steel, Paul Davies is available to download

Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon That Changed the Course of History Duncan Steel, Paul Davies
Type:	eBook
Released:	2001
Publisher:	Joseph Henry Press
Page Count:	493
Format:	pdf
Language:	English
ISBN-10:	030907438X
ISBN-13:	9780309074384

From Library Journal Many books have been written about eclipses, but few are as comprehensive as this one, first published in Britain in 2001 and now rewritten for a U.Eclipse: The Celestial Phenomenon ... Textbook S. audience with new chapters that describe famous American eclipses, such as the Rocky Mountain eclipse of 1878. Steel, an astronomer and author of two previous books on asteroid and comet-impact hazards, clearly describes the science and history of solar and lunar eclipses. He also explains other kinds of eclipses, such as transits (when a planet passes in front of the sun) and occultations (when a planet or asteroid passes in front of a star or other body). Some cultures, he continues, saw eclipses as a message from God, and some used advance knowledge of them to manipulate the ignorant. Steel adds that eclipses have played a role in advancing scientific knowledge about, for example, the sun's chromosphere. His informative book is recommended for all astronomy collections. Jeffrey Beall, Univ. of Colorado Lib., Denver Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Astronomer Steel surveys eclipses of all types, although the solar variety get marquee billing. Frequently Steel relates the circumstances surrounding particularly famous eclipses, such as the one in 1919 that vindicated Einstein's theory of general relativity; elsewhere, he reaches back in history to describe superstitious reactions to eclipses. Steel's compendium ranges from entertaining information about eclipses to the scientific significance of the vast amount of technical information astronomers have teased out of these events. Such information includes that derived from studying the sun's corona; measurements of distances to the moon and sun; and, in combination with eclipse records made by ancient civilizations, deductions made about the lengthening day or the moon's recession from the earth. Steel's ambit also encompasses the uses made of occultations, such as measuring the shapes of asteroids, and of the rare transits of Venus across the solar disk, which James Cook measured during saunters in the South Seas in 1769. Generously illustrated, Steel's informative discourse also promises staying power by ending with a guide to the next two decades of solar eclipses. Gilbert TaylorCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved