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Weird Astronomy
eBook - Tales of Unusual, Bizarre, and Other Hard to Explain Observations, Astronomers' Universe
ISBN/EAN: 9781441964243
Umbreit-Nr.: 1831623
Sprache:
Englisch
Umfang: 304 S., 7.66 MB
Format in cm:
Einband:
Keine Angabe
Erschienen am 24.09.2010
Auflage: 1/2010
E-Book
Format: PDF
DRM: Digitales Wasserzeichen
- Zusatztext
- Weird Astronomy appeals to all who are interested in unusual celestial phenomena, whether they be amateur or professional astronomers or science buffs who just enjoy reading of odd coincidences, unexplained observations, and reports from space probes that "dont quite fit." This book relates a variety of "unusual" astronomical observations unusual in the sense of refusing to fit easily into accepted thinking, or unusual in the observation having been made under difficult or extreme circumstances. Although some of the topics covered are instances of "bad astronomy," most are not. Some of the observations recorded here have actually turned out to be important scientific breakthroughs.Included are some amusing anecdotes (such as the incident involving "potassium flares" in ordinary stars and the story of Abba 1, the solar systems own flare star!), but the books purpose is not to ridicule those who report anomalous observations, nor is it to challenge scientific orthodoxy. It is more to demonstrate how what's "weird" often turns out to be far more significant than observations of what we expect to see.
- Kurztext
- <p>A book that will appeal to all who are interested in unusual celestial occurences, this volume details a variety of odd astronomical observations and includes a number of amusing anecdotes that demonstrate the significance of these weird phenomena.</p>
- Autorenportrait
- David A.J. Seargent holds an MA and PhD, both in Philosophy, from the University of Newcastle NSW, where he formerly worked as a tutor in Philosophy for the Department of Community Programmes/Workers Educational Association external education programme. He is also a keen amateur astronomer, and is known for his observations of comets, one of which he discovered in 1978. Together with his wife Meg, David lives at The Entrance, north of Sydney on the Central Coast of New South Wales, Australia. He is the author of two astronomy books: Comets: Vagabonds of Space (Doubleday, 1982), and The Greatest Comets in History: Broom Stars& Celestial Scimitars (Springer, 2008). Currently he is the author of a regular column in Australian Sky& Telescope magazine.