Description
Book SynopsisSince ancient times, humans have been engaged in a continual quest to find meaning in and make sense of sights and events in the night sky. Cultures spread around the world recorded their earliest efforts in artwork made directly on the natural landscapes around them, and from there they developed more and more sophisticated techniques for observing and documenting astronomy.
This book brings readers on an astronomical journey through the ages, offering a history of how our species has recorded and interpreted the night sky over time. From cave art to parchment scribe to modern X-ray mapping of the sky, it chronicles the ever-quickening development of tools that informed and at times entirely toppled our understanding of the natural world.
Our documentation and recording techniques formed the bedrock for increasingly complex forays into astronomy and celestial mechanics, which are addressed within these chapters. Additionally, the book explores how nature itself has recorded the skies in its own way, which can be unraveled through ongoing geological and archaeological studies.
This tale of human discovery and ingenuity over the ages will appeal to anybody interested in the field of astronomy and its rich cultural history.
Trade Review“The book is a must-read that enables readers to explore both where we have come from and the possibilities that lie ahead.” (Bernie Taylor, Physics Today, June, 2020)
Table of ContentsChapter One – Introduction.- Chapter Two – Cave Paintings – Part I.- Chapter Three – Cave Paintings - Part II.- Chapter Four – The Astrolabe.- Chapter Five – Supernovae.- Chapter Six – Mercury Transitions.- Chapter Seven – Shi Shen to Charles Messier.- Chapter Eight – The 1639 Transit of Venus.- Chapter Nine – Comets.- Chapter Ten – Astronomical Observatories.- Chapter Eleven – Fossils, Tree Rings, and Ice.- Index.
